


gone but (not) forgotten

by ItsyBitsyBatsySpider



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Gore, Death, Funny, Gen, Ghosts, Humour, Mild Blood, Other, Sadness, Shenanigans, are dumbasses, but I still love them, ghost au, i stan, so read at your own risk, these two boys, this gets pretty dark real fast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-05-16 07:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19313104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsyBitsyBatsySpider/pseuds/ItsyBitsyBatsySpider
Summary: Freddy Freeman was just like any other normal kid. He had an above average family, went to a subpar school, liked dramatic tv shows and movies, and he had extensive knowledge in the realm of the supernatural, paranormal, and bizarre........okay so maybe he wasn't completely normal. But what exactly does that have to do with anything, you may ask? Well... everything.Billy Batson had no idea what was going on. After waking up in an abandoned warehouse with nothing but the clothes on his back, the only thing he knows for sure is that something is very wrong with him and that he has to find his mom. And maybe the curly-haired kid with the crutch can help him do that.(the Ghost Au that no one asked for, but the only one that I can think about)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> okay, so i made this au as an edit on tumblr and i legit could not stop thinking about it! So, i decided to actually write it! I really hope you guys enjoy and let me know what you think!

_Ghost:_ _/ɡōst_ _  
__Noun:_ _an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living typically as a nebulous image. They are created through violent deaths or are_ _often bound to stay until certain conditions are met. This can vary from honorable burial, unfinished business/revenge or self-appointed duties._

 

* * *

Footsteps echoed, bouncing off of the metal walls and resonating hauntingly as a man walked down a hallway and into a room. A dark look shadowed his face as the lights flickered overhead and his eyes resembled chipped obsidian as he entered the low lit room. He huffed and wiped small droplets of red off of his face. His attempt to clean them off, but instead he ended up smearing the drops as he wiped them away. Leaving crimson streaks in their wake. His breath shuddered and he tried to steady himself. His breath disturbed the scruff around his lips and his eyelids fluttered in shock for a moment before squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw. A steely facade fell into place, hiding the shock and pain that stormed inside of the man.  

“Is it done?” a deep, guttural voice demanded. 

The man froze in his footsteps and looked at the one who spoke, his superior. It was another man, one who was hunched over a desk, papers and books littered everywhere and the man wore a dark leather coat. Which hid most of his form from the visible world. All you could see of the man was his large and foreboding stature. He glowered at his work and clenched his fists, waiting for his associate to reply.  

“Yes.” the first man said. Almost sounding regretful for what he did. But he kept his voice from shaking as he spoke. He swallowed hard. The crimson streaks still remained persistently on his face. The superior man’s bald head bobbed up and down in a slow nod and his fists unclenched. His back straightened.

“And he’s been disposed of?” 

The first man’s hands shook slightly,  a small telling of how scared he was, and his head nodded. “Yes.” his voice said breathily.  

“Good,” the bald man said, unbothered by the heinous act he and his employee had just committed. The first man swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.  

“Now,” Thaddeus Sivana said. “let us continue. No more distractions.” 

* * *

 

 

_ One week later... _

 

“Oh, Freddy!” a brown-haired girl cried out in irritation as her younger brother ran into her, slinging a large duffle bag over one of his shoulders. He stumbled and backed away, regaining his balance and giving his foster sister a lopsided grin. She glared at him lightly and put her hands on her hips, silently demanding an explanation. 

“Sorry, Mary,” he said. “But I’m in a little bit of a rush. Dusk is almost here and I really should get going! Don’t wanna miss out on prime ghost activity time, you know.” he said in one breath. Freddy pushed past his sister and began to slowly descend down the stairs, his crutch clicking as he did so. 

“No, I don’t know!” Mary said. “And who’s taking you? You can’t walk around Philadelphia all by yourself at night! Who’s gonna go with you?” 

Freddy shrugged and finished the stairs. “Victor’s driving me. So I’ll be fine. Stop worrying.” he said. Mary huffed in annoyance before giving up and throwing her arms up in the air. 

“Okay, fine. Hope you have fun and don’t die,” she said as she left and went to her room. 

“No promises!” Freddy called out after her with a smile. The raven-haired boy chuckled and spun around, limping over to the door to grab his thick jacket from the rack it was hanging from. 

This was going to be his first official ghost hunting trip! His new equipment had just arrived in the mail earlier that day and the teen was more than anxious to try them out. He wanted to see if the EMF meter, electromagnetic field meter, would work just as well as the reviews said it did! 

EMF  meters were used to  measure the derivative of the surrounding magnetic field; thus, these meters are sensitive to changing magnetic fields .  Unusual activity in the form of high readings on these meters signifies that there is some type of paranormal activity, such as the presence of a ghost or other supernatural creature. 

And Freddy had tried to make his own EMF at home, but that had ended up terribly and it just didn’t work. Even though he had followed all the instructions on his ghost forum website. Guess his fellow ghost hunters were incorrect. 

Freddy had made sure to pack his salt and iron, just in case he did come across a ghost, but so far he had never had any use for them. Much to his disappointment. And you might be asking, why on earth would a ghost obsessed teen need salt and iron for ghost-hunting? Well, you see salt and iron are said to act as a purifying agent against ghosts. It wards them off and when they come in contact with it, it banishes them to the veil between worlds. It’s like a natural ghost repellant. So, of course, Freddy would have some to protect himself in case a vengeful spirit found him. 

Freddy’s interest in the paranormal began when he was a young boy. For while all of the other boys at school were interested in superheroes and Batman and Superman and all of that stuff, Freddy was more intrigued by ghosts and werewolves and paranormal stories. 

He read books and magazines relating to them and he listened in on podcasts and read websites. Learning everything he could about the fascinating genre. And sooner or later the teen became an expert on the supernatural. He could tell you the difference between a ghoul and a ghost. Or a shapeshifter and a skinwalker. Or a werewolf and an Okami. He knew a vampire's real weakness, which was not some garlic and a cross much to popular belief, but instead decapitation and silver. And he could tell you about any creature between a djinn and a rugaru.

He was an entire encyclopedia for the supernatural, and it was no secret. 

Sadly though, it did get Freddy into trouble often with other kids at school. Mainly the dreadful Bryer’s. They would torment with him and bully him about his knowledge, calling him a freak or a psychopath just because of his interests. And while Freddy always tried to brush it off, acting like it wasn’t a big deal, he couldn’t deny that it still stung. And he knew that most of the creatures he read weren’t real. But, it was just so damn cool and compelling! How could you not be intrigued by such things! 

So here Freddy was, getting ready to go on his first official ghost hunt, and he was being pestered with doubts. The recently energetic boy’s excitement dwindled as he wondered if he was being silly or stupid. Maybe he was being ridiculous, there probably weren’t such things as ghosts, he was reading too much into it. 

But his doubts soon vanished when he saw his foster father, Victor walked up to him, a large smile plastered on his face and bundled up in a warm coat. “Hey bud!” he said. “You ready to go ghost hunting?” 

Freddy smiled and nodded. “Hell yeah, I am! Thanks for taking me Victor it means a lot.” 

Victor walked over to the front door and opened it up for him and the teen. 

“Well of course! Why wouldn’t I do this with my son? It sounds super awesome and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.” 

Freddy’s heart warmed at the words and shouldered his duffle bag. Victor was always supportive of his, and everyone else’s interests. So whenever Freddy felt weird or doubtful about his hobby, Victor wasn’t too far away to give him words of encouragement. Telling him to embrace the things he liked and to ignore what anyone else had to say. He was the best foster dad any kid could ask for, and if it wasn’t for Victor, Freddy would’ve been much more self-conscious and anxious about himself. 

The pair walked out of the door, grins on their faces and excitement buzzing around them. They climbed into the familiar brown van and settled down. 

“So,” Victor said, “Where we headed? Cemetery? Abandoned apartment building?” 

Freddy scoffed and shook his head. “Uhm no, of course not. We’re not going there just yet Victor. Those are big leagues! I’m not ready to be heading to those places just yet.”

"Well, what about ‘Go big or go home’?” 

Freddy sighed, “Yeah, that’s what you do when you wanna get murdered by a vengeful poltergeist. Or worse, eaten by a ghoul. No, we’re heading...here!” The raven pulled out a piece of paper which had an address on it and a picture of an old looking warehouse. The walls were rusted and broken, glass windows. The address said it was on the other side of town, just on the outskirts of the city.  Browning letters on the side of the building announcing who owned the building. Sivana Industries.

“Here?” Victor asked, pointing to the building.  Freddy nodded.

“Yup! It was abandoned almost a decade ago and no one’s used it since! I read a report that said someone got killed in an accident there, apparently the son of the company’s owner, and it was pretty brutal. It’s the perfect place to start!” He exclaimed enthusiastically. Victor sighed deeply. 

“Whelp alright. As long as I’m there and it’s not too dangerous, I’m okay with it. But some ground rules first. Do not leave my sight. Do not wander off. And lastly, if you’re ever feeling scared or anxious, tell me and we can immediately leave.”

Freddy nodded sternly. “Got it. Now let’s go! We’re losing night time!” 

Victor chuckled and turned on the car. 

 

* * *

 

The father and son slammed the car doors shut and looked up at the warehouse. Freddy had the widest smile on his face once he saw the building and he immediately set his bag down on a rusted barrel. Opening it up and pulling out his new EMF and camcorder. He heard Victor whistle behind him. 

“So, this is the place.” he said. 

“Yup!” Freddy chirped as he held the camcorder out for Victor to take. “Okay, so you’re in charge of recording everything and I’ll be in charge of finding the ghosts!” He turned to his foster dad, smiling ecstatically. “Let’s go!” 

Victor laughed and followed his son as he limped to the door and helped him when he watched him struggle to open it. It slowly opened up with a mighty groan and the two walked inside. 

The warehouse was much larger than Freddy had anticipated. The ceiling hung high above them and chains hung from the many rafters. Metal walls and concrete floors was all that was there, as well as some large wooden crates filled with who knows what. There were walkways and stairs that led to other rooms in the warehouse and canvas flaps draped down over some hallways. 

It was freaking creepy.

And Freddy loved it. The raven-haired boy laughed giddily and turned to look at Victor. “This is so cool!” he shouted. His voice echoed in the rafters far above him. He gripped his EMF device tightly and his hands fumbled to turn it on. A little whiny noise resonated from the device and the little lights on it lit up dimly. Freddy smiled even wider. 

“Oh my gosh, this is so cool! Look, Victor, you can see the differing waves in the electromagnetic fields! It actually works!” 

Victor nodded. “Yep. Now, where do you want to go first?” Freddy bit his lip in thought, glancing around the base, before he held up the device. It beeped and whined as the teen moved it around, looking for the biggest disturbance. It whined loudly in one particular direction and then Freddy pointed. 

“There,” he said. “Let’s start there.” 

Victor patted Freddy on the back. “Well alright, let’s go find a ghost!” 

 

* * *

 

They didn’t find a ghost. 

Much to Freddy’s sadness. But they did find some startled birds and a rat or two who were sniffing around for food. It was nearing seven at night when Victor said that they should be heading back. Freddy had school in the morning and they still had to make the long drive home. They had been gone for long enough. Freddy hung his head and resigned to the reality that they found nothing, and began shuffling his way over to Victor. The man turned off the camcorder and placed a hand of Freddy’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry bud. I know how excited you were for this. Maybe next time we’ll find something.” he said softly. Freddy nodded fingered the EMF.

“Yeah, maybe. Next time,” he said. They began their way back to the door they had come in from when Freddy heard the EMF device whine loudly and all of the lights turned on. The teen felt a shiver go down his spine and his breath came out as white fog. And he knew that it wasn’t from the December chill. 

Freddy felt hope flare inside of him again and he smiled. 

“Hey, uh, Victor?” the boy asked. The large man turned to look at his foster son. “I think I may have, uhm, forgotten to check over there! Can I check it out real quick? I promise to, uh, meet you at the car right when I’m done. I won’t be long.” Freddy slipped out from underneath Victor’s hand and began limping over to the spot, a hallway covered up with a plastic canvas, barely giving his guardian a chance to reply to his request. Freddy threw aside the canvas that covered the hallway, and left behind a slightly confused man. But Victor lightly shrugged, because he knew that Freddy would be just fine. They hadn’t found anything yet, so why would he find something now? 

The EMF is Freddy’s hand buzzed like crazy and he felt a bone-chilling cold cling to his body. Fear and excitement fluttered in his chest and the boy’s breath shortened and sped up. This was it. These were all the signs of a ghost being present! He smiled and chuckled lightly. 

“Hey there demons,” he said. “It’s me, ya boi.”  

The cold instantly vanished from him and the EMF stopped buzzing, the little lights shutting off. Freddy’s smile dropped. “Wait no! Shit!” he hissed. Who knew that quoting a meme would scare away spirits? “Nonononono please come back! Shit. Fuck.” 

The air remained the same, not becoming any colder or any less, and Freddy sighed. His shoulders dropping in disappointment and defeat as he hung his head and kicked at the ground frustratedly. He had his one chance and he fucking blew it. His real and only chance at meeting a ghost and he just had to go and scare it off.

_ Nice going Freeman.  _ Freddy thought bitterly to himself. The raven was about to turn around and leave, finally having given up on his hunt, when he heard something that made him stop dead in his tracks. 

“Hello?” 

The boy spun around, gasping, his brown eyes wide. And much to his shock, and confusion, he saw a boy standing in front of him. A boy who was not much older than him. 

He had to have been no older than fourteen, and he had light brown hair that hung in front of moss green eyes. He wore a faded tan jacket with a red hoodie underneath, light green pants, fingerless gloves, and a black beanie was placed on top of his head. He looked like a homeless teen to Freddy. The raven-haired boy looked around the other and saw a doorway right next to him. Freddy’s excitement left him. He was just a homeless kid who was sleeping here. He must’ve heard Freddy cursing and had woken up. Freddy’s shoulders dropped and he glanced down at his EMF.

“Stupid thing.” he muttered. He shook the device angrily and pocketed it. He looked up and met the other boy’s eyes. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to wake you, I was just about to go.”

The brunet’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “What?” he asked. Freddy froze where he was, suddenly starting to feel a little awkward. 

“Be-because. Weren’t you, like, just sleeping?” he asked awkwardly. He didn’t want to make it obvious that he knew he was homeless or anything. It might be a touchy subject. 

“But,” the other boy said. “You just… you were looking for me right?” 

Freddy made a face at the stranger. “What? No, I wasn’t looking for you. What made you think that?” 

The brunet’s mouth opened and closed, making him look like a gasping fish. “But… you said ‘hey there demons. It’s me ya boi. And you asked me not to leave.” 

Freddy sighed and sent a light glare to the other boy, whoever he was. He apparently heard him being an idiot, thanks to these echoey metal walls. “No, I was-I was just being stupid. Forget I said anything. I wasn’t even looking for you, I was just- wait what are you even doing here in the first place? Who are you and why are you staying here? Shouldn’t you be at a shelter or something? Me and my dad can take you to one if you like, it’s probably not safe staying out here in the middle of winter anyway.” 

The boy shook his head and raised his hands. “What? No. No I- I don’t remember. I just woke up here and I don’t remember anything. I don’t know where I am, and you’re the first person who’s seen me. Please, can you help?” 

Freddy looked at the brunet and pursed his lips in thought. An amnesiac kid who was abandoned in a building in the middle of December in Philadelphia. It would probably be a surprise for Victor and Rosa, but it’s kind of what they did anyway right? Taking in kids who had nowhere else to go? Freddy sighed and his eyes softened. 

“Sure,” the raven said. “Yeah I can help.” he limped over to the brunet and held out his hands for him to shake. “I’m Freddy by the way. Freddy Freeman.” 

The brunet gave a relieved smile and Freddy could see his shoulders visibly drop. He approached Freddy and the disabled teen vaguely noticed how soundlessly and strangely he moved. Almost like he was gliding across the ground. 

“Billy,” he said, introducing himself. Billy reached to shake Freddy’s gloved hand with his own, but what happened next, neither of the boys could have predicted. For just when his fingers were about to touch Freddy’s, the raven-haired teen felt a strong chill and Billy’s hand went straight through him.             

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the second chapter guys! Special thanks to arithese for helping me out with the scenes I was having trouble with and i hope you all enjoy!

“HOLY MOTHERFUCKING LIMP PICKLE DICK!”  Freddy screamed. He snatched his gloved hand back and began waving it up and down as if he had just touched a hot stove. Which he had in a sense, for Billy’s hand was so cold it burned. Billy stared at his hand in shock, his green eyes as wide as dinner plates and jaw dropping open as he realized what he had just done.  

“HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE MOTHER FUCKNUGGET!” Freddy kept hollering. He panted heavily on his fingers, furiously attempting to warm them up, and then in a millisecond he spun to face Billy, his face frozen in shock and paler than a sheet of paper. “Y-YOU!” he said, pointing at the other boy. “You’re the ghost! It's you!" He scoffed and smiled, looking like a madman to Billy, and it was starting to freak the brunet out. Well, more so than he already was. 

“W-what?" Billy asked, his voice small. 

“You! You were the one who was making my EMF go all crazy! Ugh how did I not notice this before!? I’m such a dumbass!”

“But, I thought...I thought...Wait, what? What’s going on? What the hell’s an EMF and I’m not a ghost! I can’t be! I’m right here a-and, I’m breathing!” 

Freddy’s face became incredulous. “Dude, you’re hand just went straight through me! How else would you explain it? Plus, right before you showed up, there was a cold spot and my EMF, electromagnetic field measuring device, went off the  _ charts! _ ” Billy watched as the boy, Freddy, explain all of this while waving his hand around wildly. 

“You’re a ghost!” he finished with a great big smile on his face. 

But Billy was confused. How could he be a ghost? He could feel himself breathe and he felt the heartbeat in his chest. He could feel the cold nipping the tips of his fingers and the way the winter air bit his exposed cheeks. If he was dead, how could he feel so alive? 

But somehow, what the curly-haired boy said made sense. When he had tried to talk to someone, a passerby wearing a leather jacket with some scruff, he didn’t hear him. Hell, he didn’t even look in his direction. Billy had assumed it was because the big guy was being a jackass and didn’t want to deal with a homeless kid who needed help. So the brunet had scoffed and walked away. That had been earlier today, a couple of hours after he had woken up in this cold, empty, warehouse.

He had woken up with a start, screaming, but Billy didn’t remember having a nightmare. In fact, he couldn’t remember anything. It was all blank. Billy had no idea how he had ended up in that warehouse in the first place. He knew nothing except for the sixth sense that told him he had to find his mom. Which Billy couldn’t explain, the minute he had woken up from his blank dream, he had felt the strong urge to find her. And he _ knew _ he had to find his mom.

But how could he remember that and not how he had ended up in a fucking metal building? Or that he had apparently  _ died _ . 

What kind of sick joke was the universe playing? Did he just hit his head really hard or something? But this couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real. The kid had to be wrong, he just had to be. There was no such things as ghosts, and he was just suffering from delusion and amnesia. Well, delusion on Freddy’s part. 

Billy’s head felt like it was going to crack in half from all of the conflicted thoughts that were tumbling inside.

Billy was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed Freddy waving his arm in front of his face. The brunet jolted, his mind coming back to the present and out of his thoughts, and he saw that the kid was looking at him funny. 

“Yo, dude,” he said. “You okay?”  

Billy glared, although lightly, and a familiar defensive facade fell onto his face. Hiding the overwhelming confusion and panic that swirled inside of him. “No, I’m not. I just found out that apparently I fucking  _ died,  _ but I also have no memories of it ever happening. And now some kid who I don’t know is insisting that I’m ghost whose come to haunt the land of the living and possess people.” 

Freddy held up a hand, taken aback by the sudden switch from Kid-Needing-Help to Defensive-Tough-Homeless-Kid. “Hey, I never said you came here to haunt or possess people. I just said that you were a ghost. And I have evidence!” 

Billy scoffed, his panic and confusion feeding more into his frustration. “What, some cold breezes and a beeping machine is evidence that I’m dead?” 

“Well yeah! If you let me explain the science behind it!” 

Billy shook his head. “No, I don’t have time for this, I have to go.” 

Freddy got a look on his face. “What?” He asked. Billy sent him a glare. 

“I have to go! I have better places to be than being accused by some random kid that I’m something that doesn’t exist!” Billy moved across the floor, vaguely wondering why he couldn’t feel the cold cement beneath his feet, and he was just about to step past Freddy when the raven took a step and stood in his way. Billy grumbled. 

“Get out of my way.” 

Freddy shook his head. “I don’t need to. You can just walk right through me.” the disabled boy said stubbornly. The brunet glared, his green eyes hardening and slowly growing brighter. 

“Move.” he said again. 

“Nope. Not until you realize that you are in fact a ghost and that I have solid evidence.”

Billy growled, agitated. “I don’t have the time for this dude! Just move!” Billy felt himself go cold and Freddy’s eyes widened slightly. 

“No.” the raven said again. His voice slightly shaking. The teen slowly moved his hand to his jacket pocket and he pulled out the EMF, quietly turning it on as Billy continued to glare at the person standing in his way. It began beeping loudly immediately. 

“I said,” Billy began, almost growling, “MOVE!” 

The EMF in Freddy’s hand beeped like crazy and the lights were lit as brightly as they could glow. Billy felt something snap inside of his chest and he was surprised to find Freddy fall onto the floor. Three feet backwards. As if an invisible force had shoved him. Billy’s eyes widened and he breathed shakily. But not from anger, from fear and bewilderment. The brunet drew his hands up, to see them, and the boy almost whimpered when he saw that his fingers were grey and flickering in and out of visibility. 

“Wha-what?” he muttered. “What the hell? What’s the fuck’s going on!?”

Freddy immediately got off of the ground and placed his hand out warily, as if he was greeting a scared animal, a weird smile on his face. Billy barely paid him any attention as he watched his arm slowly begin to disappear.

“Holy shit!” He heard Freddy shout. Billy suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. 

“What the hell is this!? Why won’t it stop!” he cried out. “I can’t make it stop!” 

Freddy’s face fell as he began to understand what was happening. “Fuck,” he said. “Billy? Can you hear me? I need you to ground yourself. Focus on what’s real right now.”

“But-”

“And what’s real right now, is the fucking disabled foster kid standing right in front of you trying to stop you from disappearing from this this plane of existence.” 

Okay, that made Billy whimper.

“I’m...I’m dead.” he muttered, finally coming to the realization. Freddy got a strange look on his face, and his arm lowered. 

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. But now’s not the time to be thinking about your mortality and lost humanity. Right now, you gotta focus on something else.” 

“Like what?” 

“Geez I don’t know! Maybe something like uuhhh-”

Then in that moment, Billy heard a car honking in the distance, interrupting Freddy mid-sentence. The teen’s face fell and he turned around to face the opening he had come from. 

“Oh shit!” he exclaimed, running a hand through his ebony curls. “Victor!”

“What?” Billy asked confused, his panic dwindling as he curiously wondered who his new found friend was talking about. Freddy’s gaze switched from the doorway back to Billy, who was very slowly starting to become more and more tangible again. Freddy’s eyes widened slightly as he realized that this was a distraction for Billy. Something to keep his mind off of his startling dead revelation and sudden panic attack. 

“I-it’s my dad.” the raven said. 

“You call your dad by his first name?” Billy said. The disabled boy shook his head. 

“Well no, I mean, Victor’s my foster dad, and right now, he’s reminding me that we have to go. Shit.”

Billy smirked lamely, his arm becoming visible again. “My how the turn tables.” he said, chuckling to himself as if he had just said an inside joke. But Freddy knew that that was a Michael Scott quote from the Office, he just didn’t have the time to unpack all of that. The boy rolled his eyes, bit his lip, and looked back to the entrance he had walked through, watching the old, dirty canvas flap in the winter wind. 

 

What on earth was he supposed to do?

 

Because here he was, talking to an actual ghost who clearly had just had some kind of panic attack upon realizing that he was a spirit, and he needed his help. But he couldn’t keep Victor waiting otherwise he’d get suspicious and concerned for Freddy’s safety and come back into the building looking for him. 

And should Freddy even mention the ghost to him? Should he tell Victor about Billy, or should he just keep it quiet and to himself. It didn’t seem like the right time to mention that he had made friends with a paranormal entity, as excited about it as he was, so maybe he should just not say anything about it for now. Maybe that was the best course of action. 

Cause he could always tell him later. 

Right? 

But then what was he going to do about Billy? He sure as hell couldn’t leave him alone. The kid just found out he had  _ DIED _ and he’s in no position to be left behind in a sketchy abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. Plus, there was the question of  _ how  _ he died. There’s no way he just slipped away in his sleep. Because according to the rules of Ghostism, there are three specific ways to become a ghost. You either have to have a violent death, unfinished business, or give yourself self-appointed duties. 

So if Billy became a ghost, there had to be a reason behind it. And there had to be something behind his death too, because fourteen year old kids don't go around dying every day. Or...someone.

Freddy’s face paled, and he felt his blood freeze in his veins.  _ Oh, fuck.  _ He thought to himself. Billy sensed the change of atmosphere and glanced at Freddy warily.

“What is it?” the brunet asked. 

But if that was the case, then that meant there was something bigger to this. That Freddy had just stumbled across a murder conspiracy. Oh shit, this was not what he was expecting when he had decided to go ghost hunting that night. And if what Freddy thought had happened,  _ happened,  _ then that meant that Billy’s killer was still out there.

Or not. It’s possible that Freddy was just coming up with the worst possible scenario as to why Billy was a ghost, and the raven-haired boy prayed to God that that was it. Just the worst case scenario and nothing more. 

But then that only left one option that both delighted Freddy and made him cautious. For if he couldn’t leave Billy behind or stay, then that could mean only one thing.

“Look,” Freddy began, “Something is happening here. I don’t know what it is but it’s something big. And if you want, I’m willing to help you out, man. I can try to help you remember or give you a place to stay, even if you are a ghost and hey, you’d like need a place to haunt anyway and I could help you figure all of this stuff out! I’m pretty much an expert of ghosts and the supernatural and stuff like that! Just ask my siblings. So if you want...my offer still stands.” 

Billy glanced at him funnily.“Your offer?”

“To come with me and my dad.”

Billy froze in his spot.  _ What?  _ This kid was willing to help him out? 

Why did he get the sense that in his old life that didn’t happen often. 

“I mean,” Freddy said, “Where else are you gonna go? ‘Cause you can’t just stay here, and I don’t have a car to drive to come here regularly. Plus, I bet it’d get really boring around here anyway, so really, what’s your best option here?” 

Billy looked down at the ground, thinking. And he had to admit, Freddy had a point. What was he going to do? The raven was right in the sense that he definitely couldn’t stay here, and as far as he knew, Freddy was the best person to explain to him what was happening. If he had a chance at finding out what happened to him, and finding out how he died and why, then that chance was with Freddy. 

The car outside honked again and the disabled teen swore. “Shit, I really have to go.” he turned to Billy, brown eyes curious. “So? Are you coming or what?” 

Billy bit his lip, his mind coming up with last minute questions and reasons to both go and not go, but in the end, his desperation won. He needed to know what happened. And he was only going to find that out with Freddy at his side. 

The brunet looked the other boy dead in the eye, his shoulders squared and mind finally made up, and he nodded. Freddy smiled and a small chuckle escaped him. “Great, okay let’s go.” He turned around and began walking towards the canvas flap, throwing it over his head and gesturing for Billy to follow. The brunet looked around baffled, before stuttering and following the kid in front of him.

“Okay, awesome, great, amazing, this is fantastic! I’ll tell you everything I know when we get back to my house, and whatever you do, do NOT make yourself known or whatever. I mean, we can’t do anything about the cold spots obviously, but I can turn off my EMF and put it away for now. But that means that you’re gonna have to turn invisible again.”

“Wait what?” 

“Yeah, sorry bud.”

“But isn’t me turning invisible a bad thing?”

“Oh no, it’s should be a natural ability for you.”

“But what about what just happened like ten minutes ago? When you mentioned how I was ‘disappearing from this plan of existence’?” 

Freddy shrugged. “Well you were having a panic attack, I was just trying to stop that from happening because panic attacks are never fun for anybody. Even dead kids. And, I didn’t want you disappearing at that moment. But now I do, so go ahead and do it.”

Billy scoffed. “But I don’t wanna turn invisible again.”

Freddy stopped walking and faced the spirit. “Well then how are you going to explain to my foster dad how you just showed up out of nowhere?”

“Give him the story that you thought of. That I’m a homeless kid who needs a place to sleep for the night.”  

Freddy’s mouth snapped shut, and after a moment he huffed. “Okay fine, we’ll go with that. But if you say anything else or do anything ghostly, then we, specifically me, will be in big trouble." 

"Okay, got it." 

"Good. Now come on, Victor's this way." Freddy said as he resumed his limped walking. Billy followed him out of the large building, and he breathed in the cool night air as he exited the building.

Could he even breathe? Should he call it breathing? Cause like, he was dead, did he even need to do it anymore? Probably not, but here he was breathing in the frigid air. He liked breathing. So why should he stop?

But since realizing he was a ghost, Billy gained even more questions to the already huge pile he had, and he didn't have enough answers. Like how did he die? Why did he wake up in that warehouse and not a cemetary? What exactly was an EMF? How had Freddy found him? Why did he still feel his heartbeat? Why did he still feel so alive? Why couldn’t he touch things? Would he ever be able to touch things again? Could he really turn invisible? How was he going to find his mom? How did he know he had to find her? Would Freddy really help him figure all of this stuff out? 

Billy gulped down a couple deep breaths, trying to calm down the growing flurry of questions flying around his head. He was beginning to panic again, and he did not want to go through another panic attack. So instead of focusing on those questions, he tried to ground himself, the same way that Victors car horn had. He looked up at the sky and took in the evening sight. 

The sky was a flat grey of dark, rolling clouds, and there were no stars or moon to shine and illuminate the darkness. There weren’t any real buildings for miles and the eerie light of the lone orange street lamp made the place look haunted. Which was ironic for Billy to think about. The ghost suppressed a shiver and shoved down the anxiety that had begun to rise inside of him again.

And as he gazed down the road, he saw an ugly looking brown van with its headlights on, and a heavy-set man with a beard sitting in the driver's seat. Billy immediately assumed it was Victor and he fidgeted with the edges of his beanie. 

"Dude, you okay?" He heard Freddy ask. The brunet shifted his gaze to his new friend and sent him a look. 

Freddy winced. "Right," he said. "Relative question." He sighed and began limping towards the brown van, his crutch clicking oddly against the gravel. 

"Hey Victor!" The raven shouted. The man in the car jumped and snapped his head to the sound of his foster son, and he gave a great big smile when he saw him. 

"There you are! I was beginning to worry about you Freddy. What took you so long? I heard you scream is everything alright?" He asked, concern evident in his voice. Billy's gaze shifted between the two and the teen couldn't help but feel wary of the adult. But Freddy didn't even notice Billy's caution as he just walked straight up to the passenger door and swung it open. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got startled is all."

"What startled you? You didn't fall didya?"

Freddy waved him off. "Nah, it was just a, uhm, it was a-uh, a rat. Yeah, a rat jumped out and it scared me." 

Victor gave his foster son a look, one that said he didn't entirely believe him, but that he would let it go. The large man shrugged and began to pull the jingling keys out of his pocket. 

"Well alright." He said. Freddy hopped into the seat and closed the door right when Victor started the engine. Freddy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

"Wait, aren’t you gonna ask me about my new friend?" He asked a little sarcastically, a nervous tremor hiding in his voice. He jabbed his thumb at Billy, who was still standing outside of the car awkwardly and Victor looked where Freddy was pointing. And in that second Billy knew that something was wrong. For Victor's eyes glanced over Billy absently and he turned back to his son. 

"Who?" The Hispanic man turned his attention back to the car. "There's no one there Freddy." 

Freddy's eyes widened and his head snapped back to Billy, who was staring at him with his eyes mirroring the raven's. 

What was going on? Why couldn't Victor see him?  

The van began to pull out of its spot and coming out of his shock, Billy lurched forward to grab onto the door handle. His hand slipped right through it. 

"Uhmmm," Freddy mumbled uncertainly as he watched. His fingers began to fidget with the seatbelt strap. Billy reached out again, to grab the side of the side view mirror, but again his hand went straight through it. The brunet growled in frustration and cussed. The van began to turn around and pick up speed. Billy ran after the vehicle, knowing that this was his last shot to grab onto it. He couldn't lose his chance. 

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," he muttered to himself. "Don't slip through, don't slip through, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck." 

The van drove faster and faster, and Billy struggled to keep up. He saw Freddy poke his head out of the open window and cast a fearful glance his way. Billy grunted. How was he supposed to get onto the damn thing if he couldn't fucking grab it? 

But then a flash of silver glinted in the corner of Billy's eye, and the brunet turned to see a ladder attached to the back of the van. He let himself grin as an idea came to mind. 

The van drove faster as it got closer and closer to the main road, and with a final stretch and jump, Billy reached for the edge of the silver ladder. 

 

He wasn't going to be left behind. 

 

And to his surprise, his hand didn't slip through. Billy felt the smooth, cold metal and in a millisecond his hand latched onto it. The teen jumped onto the van, and scrunched himself up against the ladder. He panted heavily and tried to calm his racing heart, if that was even possible for him anymore. He listened to the car rumbling, the sound of the tires treading on the gravel road, the transition onto a smooth road, and after a moment he could hear other cars purring alongside him too. 

Billy cracked his eyes open and looked around, seeing dozens of cars surrounding him and the ugly brown van he had attached himself too. The road sped by beneath him, and Billy gulped as he feared what would happen if he fell off. The brunet let out a small sigh of relief and he let himself relax. 

He had made it. 

Maybe he should let Freddy know that he got on…..

Eh, that could wait. And besides Billy was too scared of falling or slipping through to even consider letting go of the ladder, even if it was for a moment. Guess he'd have to wait till he got to Freddy's house to let him know that he was okay. 

But until then? Billy just hoped to God that he wouldn't fall off of the small ledge of the car and end his new afterlife. This was going to be the longest and most stressful hour of his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whelp, we're getting there! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and feel free to leave comments and kudos, i absolutely LOVE hearing from you guys! It always makes my day.   
> Until next time.   
> Next Chapter: the Vasquez house


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy finally makes it to the Vasquez household

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, things are starting to pick up pace, i mean, the story's still in it's rising-action phase, and it will be for a few more chapters, but still im glad to finally get the Vasquez's into this. Hope you guys enjoy!

By the time that Victor and Freddy pulled up to their house, a quaint little two story house on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Billy had officially decided that he never wanted to ride on the outside of a car for the rest of his existence. 

Halfway through the ride, his fingers had become stiff and numb from gripping the cold ladder so tight and he squinted his eyes shut out of fear. He did not need to see how fast he was going, for it just fed into his fear of falling off. Or falling, period. So for the entire ride, he had just scrunched himself up against the car and prayed to God that he wouldn’t slip through like he had just moments before. 

Then the second he felt the car slow down and pull up into a small driveway, he gasped and let go of the car, plopping onto the pavement and resting his hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. 

“Oh, thank God.” he breathed, “I never want to leave the ground ever again. I’m so sorry I left you in the first place.” he muttered to the driveway pavement as the car doors opened and out came the living drivers. And the moment Freddy saw him, he froze, his eyes going as wide as dinner plates and his jaw dropped open. 

“You got on!?” Freddy whisper-screamed. Billy scoffed and nodded. He was about to reply but was interrupted by his friends father. 

“Freddy?” Victor asked has he rounded the car and came up to his foster son. Freddy jumped and shut his mouth with an audible ‘click’ and turned to face his dad. “Did you say something?” Freddy shook his head vigorously. 

“Nope!” he exclaimed in an octave higher. Billy snickered lightly at the sound and Freddy retaliated with a subtle glare. 

“Oh, I thought I heard you say something. Come on, I’m sure there are some leftovers Rosa left for us.” 

“Right! Yes. I am hungry. I could eat.” the raven said robotically and Billy suppressed a smirk. Victor turned back to the car and walked over to Billy. Well, not Billy exactly, he walked to the sliding door and opened it up. He picked up a large duffle bag and shrugged it onto his broad shoulders before making his way back to Freddy. The brunet straightened himself out and followed quietly behind the father and son as they walked up to their front door. Freddy’s crutch clicking against the cement and Victor breathing heavily, while Billy stayed silent. For some reason, he still couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t making any noise when he walked. 

Victor opened the door for Freddy politely, and the teen shuffled in, casting a small glance to Billy as Victor walked through too. Freddy jerked his head, gesturing for Billy to hurry up and come in, and the brunet’s smirk faltered as he saw the front door begin to close. 

The ghost teen lunged forward, trying to hop through the closing door, but he only made it halfway there before the door closed on him. 

 

Literally. 

 

Freddy choked a yelp and covered his mouth, and Billy exclaimed in surprise. He was literally standing halfway through the door, with part of his torso on the inside of the house and the door basically cutting him in half. The boy gulped and struggled to keep his cool. 

“What is it?” Victor asked concerned as he heard the raven’s strangled yelp. Freddy removed his hand from his mouth in an instant and he stared at the large man. 

“Nothing! Nothing! I’m just uuhhh, really hungry! Yeah! All of that failed ghost-hunting really made me hungry, so...yeah!” 

Victor gave Freddy a look and placed his jacket on the coat rack. “Freddy.” he said solemnly. The said boy’s shoulders went tense and his breath hitched ever so slightly. He bit his lip and blinked rapidly. He was panicking on the inside, but it was a different kind of panic than seeing someone you knew stand half-way through a door. This was the oh-no-i’m-in-trouble-with-my-dad-and-he’s-gonna-give-me-a-talk kind of panic. 

“I know that you were really excited about tonight. And I’m sorry that it didn’t go exactly the way you wanted it to. But you have to understand, son, that sometimes things like this don’t go the way you want it to. And sometimes, not everything you read or learn about exists.” 

Freddy visibly swallowed and he fidgeted with his crutch handle. He ducked his head and didn’t move, which seemed strange for Billy to see. 

Because if there was one thing he knew about Freddy so far, it was that he always moved. 

The brunet had begun to assume that he had ADHD or something close to that, because of how animatedly he moved when he talked or just in general. But seeing him so frozen with his head down, made Billy a little cautious. He turned his gaze to Victor and watched him like a hawk. He watched his every move and didn’t look away from the man. Because for some reason that Billy could explain, he didn’t feel like trusting him just yet, even though everything that Victor had done so far hadn’t been hostile to Freddy and has in fact been caring and like a good parent. 

But why did Billy feel so cautious around him? The boy narrowed his eyes at the man, and watched his reaction as Freddy answered. 

“I know Victor, but really I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay? Maybe one day we can discuss this, but, not today. I don’t think now’s the right moment.” Freddy said, his hands unmoving and voice strangely level. The foster parent nodded. 

“Yeah, okay. I get it. I’m gonna get something to eat, what do you want?” 

“Uhm, uh, actually I’m not that hungry anymore, heh. So, I think I’ll just go to bed.” 

“Really?” Victor said, “But it’s only eight o’clock.” 

Freddy sent Victor a soft look. “Yeah.” And then he turned around and headed towards the stairs, making a small movement with his hand, an almost miniscule gesture, telling Billy to follow him. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just... so tired. So don’t mind me, I’ll just be in my room being so quiet, it’s like I’m not even there.” 

“Uhm, well okay.” Victor stuttered. “See you in the morning then kiddo.” the man said as he stood still for a moment before hesitantly shuffling his way to the kitchen. 

Billy watched as Victor made his way out of the room and as Freddy froze halfway up the stairs, and then turn around. He leaned one way, double checking that Victor wasn’t there anymore and then climbed down the stairs as fast as he could with his crutch. He rushed over to the door where Billy still appeared to be stuck and stared.

“Thank God that worked. Dude?” Freddy whispered. “What are you waiting for? Come on, just walk through!” 

“I’m scared to.” 

“W-what? Why? You’re literally fine.”

Billy narrowed his eyes. “Oh! Well have you ever walked through a door before? No? Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

Freddy huffed in annoyance and his face scrunched up in frustration. “Dude just, come on. Just take a step forward! Here I’ll help.” the raven-haired boy stuck out his hand for Billy to grasp, and Billy looked at it warily. Not because he didn’t want the help, no he wanted it, but because he was skeptical of him being  _ able _ to grab it. 

“Come on man,” Freddy whined. “I don’t wanna be here when Victor gets back.” Billy sent a glance to his friend and something began to take place in his mind. The raven shook his hand obnoxiously in Billy’s face and the brunet stared at it for a second longer before finally reaching it. 

And surprisingly, his hand didn’t slip through. 

He felt Freddy’s warm hand against his and the boy couldn’t help the small smile that grew on his face. He didn’t go through him this time! Billy glanced up at Freddy, his smile still there portraying his excitement, when he saw his new friend shiver. 

“Whoo man, you’re really cold.”

Billy winced, his smile faltering. “Sorry.” 

“It’s fine, let’s just get you out of this door.” 

“Okay,” 

Freddy tightened his grip and then leaned back, pulling Billy’s arm, and just as if he was walking, he slid through the door. Freddy regained his balance on his crutch while Billy snatched back his hand and began patting his body immediately. He let out a sigh of relief once he felt his tangible self and Freddy chuckled. 

“What? You didn’t believe me when I said you were fine?” 

Billy glared at him. “Oh shut up. I’d like to see you try walking through a door and not freak out.” 

Freddy shrugged. “Gladly. But as much as I would love to, I don’t really want to die.” 

Billy huffed in annoyance and Freddy smirked. “Now, come on, my room’s not that far from here.” 

The new ghost followed Freddy as the boy limped his way up the stairs. He asked if he needed any help getting up, but Freddy seemed to just wave him off, claiming that he was fine doing this on his own. And then once they reached the top of the stairs, Freddy led Billy to his room. 

“Whelp!” he announced. “Welcome to your new room! You can have the top bunk, for obvious reasons, and promise me that you won’t start possessing me in the middle of the night or throw things around telekinetically. Because I really like my sleep and if you start doing that then that’s a deal breaker.” 

Billy chuckled lightly, before he realized what Freddy said. “Wait…. I can stay in here?” 

The raven shrugged. “Well, yeah. I mean, that’s basically what I just said. ‘Cause like, I’ve never had a roommate before, this has always been my room, and I’ve always kind of wanted to share it with someone. I mean, don’t get me wrong, having your own room with seven other people in the house is a rarity and a privilege, but like, I wanna have a roommate just like everyone else. So yeah! This is our room. Plus, you know, I don’t want you sleeping outside or on the couch downstairs, that’d just be awkward because what if someone sees you.” 

Billy scoffed and took a look around the room, spinning around and taking it in. It was nice of Freddy to let him stay here. Beyond that, it was kind. And if there was anything Billy understood, it was that he didn’t have this kind of thing when he was alive. The room was also really nice! It was small, cozy, and it felt lived in. The brunet could see the unfinished homework that Freddy had left on the desk, the multiple jackets and shoes lying everywhere precariously, the open backpack lying on his bed, the tangled sheets and blankets on the lower bunk, and he also noticed a bunch of weird things too. Like posters of some show called Buzzfeed Unsolved, or a few strange devices here and there, and some odd books sitting in shelves with titles like  _ The Complete History of the Salem Witch Trials  _ or  _ How to Catch a Ghost  _ or  _ The Book of the Supernatural and Paranormal  _ and a bunch of other stuff like that too. Freddy set down his winter coat and flopped down onto his bed, his crutch clattering to the floor. 

_ Our room.  _ It had a nice ring to it. 

“Alright so, let’s get one thing straight, there are seven people living in this house, well now eight, and you need to know who they are.” Billy pulled up the rolly chair from the desk and promptly sat on it. “So, Rosa and Victor are the foster parents and they run the place. Rosa’s great, the best foster mom I’ve ever had and she has the best cooking! And you’ve already met Victor, so he’s cool. He’s a great dad. And then there are my siblings. First, there’s Mary, my older sister. Right now she’s applying for college in California and she’s a senior right now, so she’ll be leaving soon. Then you have Pedro, my foster brother. He’s usually the quiet one and doesn’t really wanna bother anybody, but he does like his music and exercise. And then there’s me, who you’ve already met.”

Billy scoffed. 

“And then there’s Eugene, the eleven-year-old gamer who drinks way too much soda after dark and plays too many violent video games. And then finally we have Darla, the youngest out of all of us. She’s nine and really sweet, and she’ll practically believe anything you tell her. Right now she’s kinda going through an imaginary friend phase, don’t know how that’s relevant, but I feel like that’s important for you to know. As for the house, there’s no room off limits so you can go wherever you want, but there is one place where you can never go.”

“W-well where’s that?” Billy asked stuttering. Freddy got an impish grin on his face and he squinted at Billy. 

“The living room” 

Billy’s shoulders dropped and he looked at Freddy with an exasperated look on his face. “Really? You’re seriously gonna start with the ghost puns right now?” 

“Oh yeah, trust me, I’ve come up with, like, five already.” 

“What are they?” 

“Uh, nope! I’m not gonna say them till the time is rig-”

“Freddy?” a new voice said from outside the door. Freddy jolted upright on the bed just when someone opened the squeaky door and walked in. It was a tall girl with long brown hair tied up in a loose ponytail. She had kind hazel eyes, and was wearing plaid pajama pants and a white shirt. Her gaze shifted around the room until it finally fell on her foster brother, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if she were confused. 

“Oh!” Freddy said. “Hi, _ Mary _ .” the boy emphasized her name and cast a look at Billy, who nodded in understanding and looked back to the older girl. She still had that confused look on her face and she glimpsed around the room once again. It was as if she was looking for something.

“Were you just talking to someone?” she asked curiously. Freddy stiffened. 

“Oh, uhm no, uh it’s just me in here. Just me. All by myself. Alone. With my things.”

Billy slapped his forehead with his palm. Forget him accidentally revealing himself, Freddy was going to be the one to beat him to it! He had such a shifty and untrusting look on his face whenever he lied, it was so cringey and unbearable. He could hardly watch! 

The brunet peeked out from his fingers and saw the girl, Mary, look at Freddy suspiciously. Oh yeah, Freddy was definitely going to be the one to reveal him. 

“Huh, I could’ve sworn I heard you talking to someone.” 

“Uh nope! That was just me talking to myself and comforting myself about the failed hunt tonight. Nothing much!”

Billy closed his hand again. He couldn’t bear to keep watching this. 

Mary looked at her foster brother sympathetically and walked over to sit down on the mattress next to him. 

“I’m sorry about tonight.” she said softly. Billy peeked out from his hand again and watched curiously as Mary placed a comforting hand on Freddy’s shoulder. “I knew how excited you were about this. But don’t give up just yet, maybe next Saturday we can go hunting together! After I get my homework done of course. I’m sure there are other places where you can find ghosts.” 

Freddy chuckled nervously and began to nervously fiddle with the edge of his shirt. “Uhm, uh yeah that sounds like a good idea. But really, I think I’ll stop with the whole ghost-hunting thing for now. You know, just for a little while.” 

_ Because you know, I already found a ghost.  _ Freddy thought to himself. Mary’s face fell, but then she covered it up before either of the boys could really pick up on it. 

“Oh, I see.” she muttered. “Well, just don’t get too discouraged. I’m sure you’ll find one soon enough.” She offered Freddy a small smile, gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and then stood up from the bunk bed. She walked over to the door, her hair swishing lazily behind her, and she softly called out a “goodnight” before shutting it closed. 

Freddy released the large breath he was holding and turned to Billy. “Whew! That was a close one!”

Billy rolled his eyes. “Dude you gotta learn how to lie better. You have such a shifty face on you, I’m pretty sure you’re gonna slip up.”

“What my face? This face?” the raven asked as he pointed to his mug. Billy nodded and crossed his arms, leaning back into the chair. But for some reason, his tangibility left him again, for instead of leaning against the back of the chair, he fell through it and tumbled onto the wooden floor. Freddy snickered and tried to stifle his laughter when Billy sent him a glare. 

“Yeah well if I gotta learn how to lie better, then you need to learn how to get a grip on your abilities.” 

“Fair enough.” Billy grumbled as he got up off of the dirty ground. "What do you suggest then?"

Freddy turned around and grabbed a notebook from his backpack. 

"Well, first things first. Before we figure out how to control your abilities, we gotta figure out what they are." The raven opened up to a new blank page and began to write down a bullet point list of a bunch of things.

Billy walked over to the bed and plopping down on the bed next to his friend. The brunet peered over Freddy's shoulder and his nose scrunched up in confusion. 

"Intangibility? What's that?" He asked. Freddy sighed and then placed a check mark next to the word. 

"It means going through something. Like that thing with the car, my hand, the door, the chair? That was intangibility."

"Oh." 

"These are just some basic ghost powers though. I've heard that they differ from each ghost, but, no one's ever really been able to test it out before! I'll be the first! Oh my God this is so cool! I have a ghost roommate!" Freddy exclaimed, beginning to rant excitedly.

"Okay, Freddy how about you take it down a notch?" Billy said, raising a hand. 

"Oh right, yeah, sorry." The teen said as he turned back to the book and wrote down a few more things, including questions, hypotheses, and ideas.

"Wow, you’re being thorough." Billy muttered as Freddy flipped to another page. 

"Well, there's just a lot of things to go over. Like can you transfer your powers to others? Are you stuck wearing the clothes you died in for eternity? Why didn't you go to the afterlife? Is there even an afterlife? Why did you lose your memories? How can a ghost lose their memories if they stayed because of unfinished business? Because that doesn't make sense. And then there's the whole why can't anybody else see you!? I may have a few ideas for that one I wanna test."

"Freddy, you're ranting again." 

"Right yes, okay, sorry, but come on Billy! This is awesome! How are you not excited about this?"

Billy crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Oh well you know, maybe it's because I'm the one who's  _ dead." _

Freddy cringed. "Ooh, right. Sorry. Sometimes I can get pretty carried away."

"Obviously." Billy muttered sarcastically. 

Freddy narrowed his eyes at Billy and then closed the book, setting it down on the nightstand next to his bed. 

"Okay, we can pick this back up in the morning, cause right now I should sleep. I gotta go to school in the morning, dammit." 

Freddy was about to get up from his bed, when he froze and snatched out to grab his book again. He flipped to his page and grabbed a pen, quickly writing down a question as Billy watched impassively. 

"Can...ghosts...sleep?" He mumbled as he wrote it down. Billy scoffed at the question and got up from the mattress. 

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say ‘Yes’, because I'm feeling pretty tired," the brunet turned to the ladder on the bunk bed and began to climb it. Thankful that he wasn't slipping through it, or as Freddy would say, turning intangible. "See you in the morning Freddy." He said as he clambered onto the bed and shrugged off his outer brown jacket, his beanie, and kicked off his shoes. He tossed the coat over the railing and threw the shoes onto the floor. And he watched as they barely made a sound when they clattered onto the wood. Which was really weird to see and hear. 

Billy hummed in thought before lying down on the mattress, and immediately the teen could tell that it was the softest thing he had laid down on for a while. 

And then Billy wondered if Freddy really was right. Maybe he was homeless before he had died and turned into a ghost. And the brunet would be lying if he said that he hadn't thought of those questions too. But there was one question that Billy wondered about that Freddy didn't know of. 

 

How was he going to find his mom? 

 

He was dead now and he had no idea where to even start looking. He had no idea what his last name was, he had no idea how old he was, he had no idea what she looked like, he didn't even know when his birthday was! 

Billy didn't know a lot of things, and right now, Billy was wondering if he was ever going to find those answers. The teen sighed tiredly. He really hoped so. 

Because how was he supposed to go through eternity without knowing who he was?

Billy snuggled into the mattress and closed his eyes, vaguely paying attention as he heard Freddy get up from his bed and get ready for bed, and he vaguely paid any attention as the lights turned off 

The brunet breathed in deeply and tried to put his anxieties and worries to rest. He started to imagine them floating away from him and being swept away by some cool, imaginary wind, and that helped somewhat. But soon, Billy began to feel weird. 

He tried to burrow deeper into the mattress but found that he couldn't find the soft padding anywhere beneath him. The teen cracked open his eyes and released a huff of annoyance. 

He was floating three inches off the bed. 

 

_ Great. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well I'm gonna leave it there for now. With Billy floating above his bed and struggling to control his intangibility. Im really excited for the next few chapters, i already have the outline for a few written out!   
> Feel free to leave kudos and comments and know that i love you guys!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy meets the entire Vasquez family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! Im so glad to be back with another chapter. Im gonna take this fic nice and slow, but its not going to be achingly slow, you know? Im gonna take my time with getting it right and i hope you guys are fine with that.   
> Now, to the chapter!!  
> Hope you all enjoy!

Billy stood in the middle of a frosty street, large fluffs of snow falling down softly, and sticking to his eyelashes and hair, melting immediately and making his hair drip ever so slightly. His tan jacket, beanie, and shoes were mysteriously back on his person, even though Billy had no recollection of putting them back on. The cold bit at his cheeks harshly, and the teen spun around, evergreen eyes wide. 

He didn’t know where he was.

Billy began to breathe heavily, panic verging on taking over his mind. His chest felt tight, his mind full of cotton and fog, and he could hardly think. He didn’t know where he was, he couldn’t see anything. Just the white sky and the snowflakes falling from the blanketed sky. Billy was about to give in and scream for help, when he saw something that made him stop cold in his tracks and his cry vanish in his throat. 

Tents. 

Colorful tents lined up against one another, snow piling high on their tops, and people buzzing around stalls. Playing games, laughing happily, and holding each other while drinking hot chocolate and steaming treats. It was a holiday carnival.

Billy’s eyebrows drew together, his panic beginning to dwindle, and he began to walk forward slowly. 

Why was there a carnival? Why was he here? 

The brunet crept forward and walked into the crowd, watching the people pass him without a second glance and he listened as families and couples happily won games and cheered when they won prizes. A couple of them contently drinking steaming cider or hot chocolate and munching on cinnamon sugar doughnuts. The verge of a weak smile flickered over Billy’s face. 

Everyone was so happy. 

So why did he feel such an overwhelming dread?   

The brunet continued on his path through the carnival, observing the games and the people, when he saw that among the crowd, there was this one booth. 

A little boy sitting on the display platform, a beanie on his head, a too-big backpack settled on his shoulders, and straight brown hair combed back from his face. 

Billy’s eyes narrowed at the boy. Why did he feel like he should know him? 

And with the boy was a woman, wearing a bright crimson jacket with pearly white gloves and caramel hair draping down her shoulders. She was throwing darts at balloons, and she grunted in frustration whenever she missed. 

Billy crept closer to the two. 

“I want the tiger!” the young boy cried. Billy turned up to look at the displays on the booth and he saw a bunch of large, soft tiger plushies hanging down, their orange and white fur shining brightly against the white sky, almost as if they were glowing. The woman turned to look at the boy, her face apologetic and tired, and she offered a small, authentic smile. 

“I know sweetie,” she said, her voice sounding achingly familiar. “But mommy’s not exactly going pro here.” she chuckled nervously and picked up another dart, and Billy noticed that it was the last one. 

The woman aimed carefully, her eyes narrowing in determined focus, and then with a swift and steady movement, she threw the dart. It whistled through the air softly and hit it’s intended mark. The balloon exploded with a loud  _ pop _ . The woman gasped in delight. 

“We got one!” she exclaimed excitedly. The man at the booth smiled kindly and handed her a small object. The woman held it in her gloved hand, keeping it from Billy’s view, and gave the object to the small boy with a grin. He complained again. 

“But I wanted the tiger!” he said. The woman’s smile faltered nervously and as she turned to the small boy. Her gaze glancing between the object and the young child.  

“Oh but you see this is the real treasure baby, because- _ wake me up before you go-go _

_ Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo _

_ Wake me up before you go-go _

_ I don't want to miss it when you hit that high _ !”

Billy’s eyes snapped open, his dream vanishing right before him in a millisecond, and he didn’t see the carnival anymore. There was no snow or white sky or street carnival or a little boy with the woman in red. 

Instead, it was just the popcorn ceiling of the room he was sleeping in and the dim gold light of the lamp in the corner. And right there, ringing in Billy’s ears was the cursed song ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ that had interrupted and woken him up from his dream. 

The brunet groaned and rolled over on the bed, noticing gladly that he wasn’t floating above it anymore. After the song had continued on for a verse or two more, the teen growled and he leaned up on his elbows, overlooking the bed railing. His eyes locked onto the raven-haired boy who had just got up from his own bunk bed and he glared at him as he yawned. The raven-haired teen shut off the alarm clock on his phone and ran a hand through his curly, mussy hair, his lips smacking as he did so.  

“Seriously?” Billy asked, agitation leaking into his voice. “Your alarm clock is ‘Wham!’ from  _ Deadpool _ ?” 

Freddy turned to look up at Billy, his eyes cloudy with sleep, and he gave the ghost a lopsided grin. 

“Uhmm, no. ‘Wake Me Up’ isn’t in  _ Deadpool.  _ Same artist, but different song.  You’re thinking of ‘Careless Whisper’.” 

“How do you even know that?” Billy asked incredulously. Freddy shrugged and reached for his crutch. The ghost groaned and fell back onto the bed, closing his eyes and praying fruitlessly that he would go back to sleep on the soft mattress, and finish his dream. But what exactly was he dreaming about again? It was all fuzzy now. Something with white snow, and... something red? He felt like it was very important and that he should remember it, but all he could recall was glowing tigers. 

Weird. 

Billy heard clothes drawers opening and closing and he heard Freddy sit on his bed as he started getting ready for the day. 

“Okay, so we gotta figure something out.” the nerd said. 

“What…” Billy grumbled, annoyed. 

“What exactly are we gonna do about today? Because I still have to go to school, thank goodness it’s Friday, but like, we can’t exactly have you floating around the house all day. Even if the place is your haunt now.”

Billy sat up. “I don’t float! And I’m not haunting you guys.”

“Eh, you might as well be.” 

“Oh, shut up!” Billy tried to snatch his pillow and throw it at Freddy, but his hand slipped through it. Not even a soft breeze disturbing the soft cushion. Billy grumbled. It was way too early to deal with this. 

And why was he still thinking about glowing tigers!?

He heard Freddy snickering from his spot on the ground, and the brunet decided that he had enough. “I’m leaving.” the brunet said, causing Freddy to stop laughing and look up from tying his shoes. Billy jumped down from the bunk, not even making a sound when he landed on the wooden floor. The ghost was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of wrongness. 

“W-wait what? You’re going? Where?” the disabled teen started to ask, panic creeping its way into his voice. Billy glanced at the raven strangely and scoffed. 

“Relax, I’m just going downstairs. I need coffee.” Billy walked over to grab his shoes, slipping them on easily and shoving his beanie back onto his head. He headed towards the door and reached to open the handle, but sighed in frustration when his hand passed through it harmlessly. Freddy chuckled behind him. 

“Are you sure you can even get downstairs?” the boy asked snarkily. “Or, can you even drink coffee? Wouldn’t it just go straight through you and splatter onto the floor? Oh! Would you take my notebook with you just in case and write this stuff down?” 

Billy sent a look at Freddy, staring with a deadpan glare for a moment, then without saying anything just walked straight through the door, leaving behind is new roommate. He heard Freddy call out for him from behind the room door, and the boy smirked. Shaking his head, the brunet made his way over to the stairs and walked down them. Noticing for the first time that morning how the house seemed to be bustling with noise. 

He reached the bottom of the stairs and was scared out of his wits when a young Asian boy with glasses ran right through him. 

“FUCK!” he yelped before he instantly covering his hand with his mouth in an attempt to cover the startled cuss.  But the boy continued on his way, not even flinching at the sudden cursing from the ghost, and he rushed here and there, gathering paper and books and stuffing them in his school bag.

“Mom!” He called out. “Have you seen my grey shoes?” he called out all of a sudden. 

“They’re by the stairs!” a woman’s voice replied.

The boy ran back towards the stairs and Billy animatedly jumped out of the way, hopping back onto the last step as the boy rushed past and picked up his shoes from the ground. “Thanks!” he yelled. 

Billy let out a breath of relief once the Asain kid left, having not enjoyed the feeling of having someone walk right through him, and he slowly began to make his way towards the kitchen, the source of all the commotion in the house. He timidly peeked his head around the corner and his evergreen gaze was met with the sight of a bunch of people eating, sitting, or rushing around the kitchen. 

There was a large Mexican kid at the table eating a piece of toast and right next to him was Mary, the girl from last night, sipping a cup of coffee and reading a book calmly. Then there was an older woman, with short brown hair and a very strong maternal vibe about her, strutting around the kitchen, grabbing things and putting them into small lunch bags. Presumably for the younger kids, since there was only two. And then there was the Asian kid again, sitting next to a small black girl, and both were munching on bowls of cereal. But curiously, there was another bowl of cereal set down next to the little girl, milk already poured and spoon right beside it, untouched. 

_ Is that for Freddy?  _ He wondered. 

And speaking of the ecstatic raven, Billy’s thoughts were interrupted as the teen walked into the kitchen, his crutch clicking, his hair still disheveled, and throwing down his backpack on the ground beside him. He sent Billy a small grin and then sat down from across the little girl, his back to him. 

“Hey,  _ Darla. Eugene.”  _ he said, emphasizing each of their names to an almost comical level. Billy rolled his eyes. The girl, Darla, looked up from her cereal and sent a bright smile towards her foster brother, and Billy wondered if she was somehow part sunshine. 

“Good morning, Freddy!” She exclaimed happily. “Did you sleep well? How was your ghost-hunting last night?” 

Freddy sent her a faltering smile and he grabbed a piece of toast. “Oh, uh, I slept well. And ghost-hunting was okay. Not much happened though, it was kinda boring.” 

Billy snorted and began to lean against the doorway casually. Freddy’s head turned to Billy for a second before it snapped forward again, remembering that he was supposed to act like Billy wasn’t even there. 

Darla looked back down at her cereal. “Oh, I’m sorry. Maybe next time will be better!” 

“Y-yeah, maybe next time.” the raven took a bite of his toast. 

“Did you have enough to eat Mr. Sparklefingers?” Darla asked all of a sudden. Billy saw Eugene roll his eyes, Mary send a kind glance at Darla, and Freddy swallowed thickly. He turned to his friend, his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Who’s Mr. Sparklefingers?” he asked. Freddy looked at Billy from the corner of his eye and cleared his throat. 

“Hey Darla,” he said, his voice sounding slightly higher than before. “How’s Mr. Sparklefingers your _ imaginary friend _ doing today?” 

“Oh. Got it.” Billy said. Mary looked at Freddy, her gaze curious as Darla’s face lit up excitedly. 

“He’s doing good today! He was a little cranky waking up just like normal, but he’s happy now that he’s had his Froot Loops.” 

And just then something strange happened, Darla’s smile stuttered for a moment and her black eyes flickered to Billy. The brunet felt himself freeze. 

Could she see him?

But his suspicions were swept away when Darla looked away and back to her breakfast. She didn’t look at him long enough for him to figure it out, and it might’ve just been his imagination. There was no way she could see him. But then again, there was no reason for Freddy to see him either, and yet he still did. 

Billy bit the inside of his cheek in thought and completely ignored the rest of the morning table conversation, his mind beginning to ponder over how exactly Freddy was able to see him. 

But his thinking was cut short when his stomach growled unexpectedly. And loudly. 

The brunet stiffened and Freddy snorted, he had obviously heard it too, but everyone else carried on like nothing had happened. Which it did in a sense.    

“Uhhmmm,” Billy said uncertainly. “What do I do?” he asked, even though he knew that Freddy couldn’t reply. Billy felt the hunger inside of him claw at his insides and he winced uncomfortably. Apparently, he didn’t have a full stomach when he had died, which freaking sucked because now he was freaking hungry. But what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t exactly just get out a bowl and fill it with oatmeal or something. 

…......

Well, maybe not oatmeal. 

Billy eyed the cereal sitting next to Darla, and his eyebrows raised. His eyes glanced around the kitchen, to see if anyone would notice him, but when no one made any indication that they saw him, he began to walk around the table. 

Freddy immediately saw him, as his back was no longer facing Billy, and the raven’s eyes widened considerably. 

Billy came up to Darla, who didn’t see him, and the ghost looked at the cereal. Then at Freddy. Then at the cereal. Then at Freddy. Then back to the cereal. And then wordlessly he sat down in the chair next to the little girl. 

Freddy made a weird sound in the back of his throat and Eugene looked at his brother funny. 

“Freddy, you okay?” he asked. The raven nodded vigorously. 

“Yup! Fine!” 

Billy stared at the cereal, and you could tell that it had been sitting in milk for a good couple of minutes, for the crisps lazily floated around, turning soggy. The brunet’s hand hovered over the spoon right next to it for a moment, hesitant to see if this would actually work or not, and as he sat there, Freddy immediately abandoned his breakfast and bent down to unzip his backpack, pulling out the same notebook from last night. Billy sent his friend a dead look. 

“Really?” he asked. Freddy nodded. 

Mary noticed her visible brother's strange behavior, and when she quirked an eyebrow at him, her question obvious, Freddy swallowed hard and fidgeted with the paper. 

“Uhmm, uh, just thought of an ess-say a-analysis, for- uhm, s-school.” he covered up lamely. 

“You’re so bad at lying,” Billy said with a scoff.

“And you’re bad at using your powers.” Freddy retorted underneath his breath. 

“What?” Mary asked. 

Freddy squeaked. “Nothing!” 

Billy snickered, and then picked up the spoon, pleasantly surprised when he found that he didn’t slip right through it and cheered happily. 

“Yes!” he said while Freddy frantically looked around the breakfast table to see if anyone had noticed. But no one seemed to bat an eye when Billy raised the spoon and dug into the soggy cereal before him. 

_ Interesting.  _ Freddy thought to himself as he jotted down another hypothesis to test on.  

But his writing was cut short when the older woman placed the two lunch bags on the table and frantically grabbed a slice of toast too. 

“Alright, kids! Time to go, don’t want you all to be late! Victor grab the keys will you?” she said, as she buttered the toast and immediately chomped down on it. Billy rushed to finish the rest of his cereal, practically inhaling the small bits and chugging down the milk. 

It was the best thing he had tasted in a while. 

He set the bowl down as fast as possible, the ceramic clinking as it hit the table, and instantly got out of the chair. Getting out of the way of all the bustling children and trying his best to not be walked through. 

Freddy had put his notebook back in his bag and got out of his chair, sending a glance to Billy before he left the kitchen, and the brunet started to follow the only person who could see him. 

But as they left the kitchen, they also left behind a little girl who noticed that the once full bowl of cereal, was now empty with not a single drop of milk inside it. 

And Darla was positive that she saw no one touch the cereal. 

So how was it now empty?

 

* * *

 

 

Billy was shoved outside by Freddy as the foster kid van pulled up in front of their school. The brunet harmlessly passed through the metal and glass of the side, but he did harmfully crash onto the road with an unhappy groan. 

He heard the car stop with a squeak of their brakes, and then the door slid open, the foster children clambering out and grabbing their bags while saying goodbye to their parents. They focused on getting ready to walk up to their school, with Mary handing her younger sister her bag and Pedro looking out for cars since Eugene was busy playing the game on his phone. But as soon as Freddy stepped out of the car, he rushed over to Billy and helped him back up before anyone could notice and question the raven what was doing.

“What the hell Freddy!?” Billy yelled. “What’d you do that for?” 

The raven raised his hands in surrender. “What? I’m sorry that I didn’t want anyone walking through you and feeling cold spots!”

Billy crossed his arms. “Uh-huh, so you just pushed me out of a moving van.”

“We had practically stopped! Look, you’re totally fine, what’re you complaining about?”

“You pushed me out of a car!”

“Freddy?” Darla suddenly asked as she stood by the sidewalk with Mary, Pedro, and Eugene next to her. Freddy snapped his mouth shut, biting down on the retort he was about to shoot at Billy and glanced at his little sister. “You ready?” she asked.

“Yep!” he said, his voice sounding tight. Billy rolled his eyes and shoved his shoulder, the raven-haired boy stumbling forward and yelping at the sudden impact. The boy sent his friend a light glare before turning back to his family and walking with them to the steps at the front of the school. Billy followed behind silently and watched as entire crowds of children swarmed the front of the school. 

A light snowfall fell from the sky, and the sidewalk and pavement were covered in coarse rock salt, melting all of the frost that had settled there that morning. Children of all ages chattered animatedly in their friend groups, saying hi and asking about homework or a recent episode in a tv show that aired last night. The scent of wind, snow, and dead leaves wafted throughout the courtyard and Billy shivered at the frigid air, pulling his beanie down lower over his face to guard himself against the cold better. He listened as Freddy’s crutch clicked against the frosty ground and as Darla talked nonstop to Mr. Sparklefingers or whatever, and he looked around the yard, green eyes glancing over everything and taking it all in. If he was still alive and well, then Billy would have no problem blending in with all of the other hundreds of kids. 

But the one thing that really got him, was how no matter where he stepped or how well he swerved, there was always that one kid who be walking through him or standing in the way. 

Navigating through the crowds was awful and Billy hated it. It reminded him of his dream for a second. Snow falling, lots of talking, large crowds going about their way in waves of people. 

Glowing tigers. 

But just as quickly as the spark of the memory came, it vanished, blown away by the winter wind herself. Billy growled in frustration, annoyed at himself and his stupid brain for not being able to remember anything useful. Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn’t he remember anything from his life? It was infuriating. He had only lived his afterlife for a day and a half, and so far, he wasn’t having a great time.

But at least one good thing came out of it. A room and a friend, which was something that Billy was sure he didn’t have in his former life. 

How sad was that?

Billy was pulled out of his thoughts and brooding when he heard someone whispering his name. 

“Billy,” Freddy said in a hushed voice, “come on, don’t fall behind.”  The brunet nodded, even though he was barely paying attention to what his friend was saying.  “Grab onto my bag,” Freddy said, using the same hushed tone. It should have been hard to hear him in the large crowds, but somehow Billy was still able to hear him loud and clear. Maybe he had enhanced hearing or something? 

Nah, that was stupid. 

Billy reached forward and grabbed onto the backpack strap on Freddy’s shoulder, gripping the rough material as if his life depended on it and until his knuckles turned white. He did not want to be lost in this crowd. That would be a horrible disaster for the both of them. Because if Billy got separated from Freddy, from the only person who could see him, then there would be no way to find him in that huge building. Billy didn’t know what Freddy’s classes were, and if he did get left behind then he would be stuck walking around the halls until the end of the school day. Unheard and unseen by anyone and everyone.

A tremor went down Billy’s spine as the thought of being left behind embedded itself in his mind. The brunet shook his head. The thought still didn’t leave. Because for some reason that he couldn’t remember for the life of him, Billy didn’t want to be left behind. It was a deep feeling, one that settled beneath his bones, and ached inside his chest, and carved into his brain. 

_ I don’t wanna be left alone.  _ He thought. 

He gripped onto the backpack even tighter and let out a breath of relief when he saw that he wasn’t slipping through. He wasn’t going to be left behind, not again. He was sure of that. Because even if the entire school didn’t see him, even if Mary and Pedro and Eugene and Darla and Victor and Rosa didn’t see him, Freddy could. And Freddy wasn’t going to leave him behind.  

“Hey, you okay?” the raven whispered in front of him, and Billy was pulled back to the present. The family was huddled in front of the doors, standing together in a line as a security guard took other students bags and put them through a metal detector. 

“Yeah,” Billy said. “I’m fine.”            

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sighs* yes. Billy remembered some of his past, but then he immediately forgot it. Because just like dreams, you don't remember everything from it! Just bits and pieces. And then i loved writing the cereal part, i just feel like thats so true to their characters and i could actually see Jack and Asher playing that out.   
> Anyway, i hope you guys enjoyed! And see you next time!
> 
> Next Chapter: School and the Bryer's


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy goes to school with Freddy, and the boys have an encounter with some unwelcome bullies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! I wanted to post this chapter a nice two weeks after the last one, but i finished it early and its kind of been sitting in my google docs for like two days. Then after some consulting and one very persuasive message from one of you guys, i decided to post it a little early.   
> I hope you guys enjoy and that the wait was worth it! I got the next two chapters planned out, and i cant wait for you all to read what happens next!
> 
> Enjoy!

School was, in a word, boring. 

 

But then again weren’t all schools boring?

Billy hovered behind Freddy for basically the entire day, following behind the teen and gripping onto his backpack as they walked into the hallways between classes. And he would sit down in the corner of the classroom while the teacher droned on and on about the day’s lesson. And since nobody else but Freddy could see him, Billy was bored out of his mind. 

It wasn’t till halfway through the day that Billy had actually managed to find some way to relieve himself of his fidgety, bored energy. Which, to put it simply, was through pulling pranks on the teacher and the students. Primarily the teacher.  

One prank, for example, was moving the teacher's chair a couple of inches away from them just seconds before they sat down. Causing them to flail for a hilarious second as they tried to regain their balance and not fall down on the ground comically. 

Freddy had snorted in amusement at that. But in the end, he had to tell his friend that he couldn't pull pranks that could end with the teacher going to the hospital for a concussion or sprained leg. 

So the brunet decided to go for more harmless and confusing pranks, such as stealing coffee mugs. 

It would be the middle of the class, and the teacher would go to reach for their cup of steaming coffee, anticipating the touch of a warm mug filled with deliciously bitter liquid, only for Billy to grab it and walk away. The teacher would then look down curiously, clear confusion etched onto their faces as they turned around and tried to find their missing mug. And while no one was looking, except for Freddy, Billy would place the mug in the most random place ever. Someplace where the teacher would never have put down their coffee. Such as a students desk, or a cabinet, or the windowsill, or his personal favorite, balanced on top of the door frame. 

And then, if the boy was feeling like it, he would take a few sips before setting it down. He didn't get his coffee that morning, so someone had to pay for that. It might as well be the teachers.  

Freddy had rolled his eyes and tried to ignore him, but even the raven couldn’t deny the mischievous grin that had made its way onto his face. 

The fourth period of the day had been history, which was just as bad as it sounded. And poor Billy was stuck listening to the teacher, Mr. Fillipelli, drone on and on about the industrial revolution; and for the billionth time that day, Billy wondered how on earth this was relevant to living in the real world. 

The teacher handed out sheets of paper, homework to work on before the end of class, and Billy groaned as the classroom became silent with both focus and boredom. 

Freddy glanced at the ghost, who was sitting dramatically on the windowsill overlooking the playground, and he sent him a look. 

“I’m boooorrreeeddd.” Billy drawled out. “How much longer till class is over?” 

Freddy glanced to the back of the classroom and read the hands of the clock. He gestured to Billy to come over to his desk with a nod of his head and Billy floated off of the windowsill. Soundlessly landing on the floor. Freddy scribbled something on a sticky note as the brunet walked over and Billy almost groaned again when he read the message. 

“Nine more minutes!? Seriously? This is torture.” 

Freddy glared at his friend, before scribbling down another message. 

**_Yeah, well get over it. We still have half a day ahead of us. But don’t worry, let’s come up with a plan to get out of here at lunch._ **

Billy grumbled and sat down on the floor next to Freddy’s desk. “Well then how much longer till lunch?” he asked. Freddy huffed a sigh, before scribbling on the sticky note again.

**_9 minutes. Seriously, shut up and get over it. You’re being such a baby._ **

Billy pouted. “I’m not a baby,” he said defensively as he crossed his arms and slouched against the desk. Freddy snorted a laugh and covered up his mouth. A kid sitting next to Freddy gave him a weird look and the raven-haired boy turned to him, mouthing a soft ‘Sorry’ before looking back to his assignment, even if he couldn’t focus on it at all.  

“Screw you, Freeman.” Billy said. Freddy took a small risk and leaned back in his chair, glancing at Billy. 

“Ditto.” he whispered beneath his breath. 

The class was silent for a few moments longer, and Billy took it has his opportunity to move the coffee mug while taking a few generous gulps. And just when he placed it down on his windowsill, the bell rang. 

Two dozen children simultaneously got up out of their chairs and began chattering loudly and mindlessly as they left the stifling classroom, and Billy took this as his moment to dart out of the room as fast as possible, leaving Freddy behind to gather up his things and follow out his ghostly friend into the hallway. The raven-haired teen scoffed at his friend's actions and then stood up from his chair, making his way over as he left the room. The last one out as always. 

He found Billy standing awkwardly and warily in the middle of the hallway as he attempted to dodge passing students, clearly obvious that he didn’t want anyone to walk through him. But it didn’t seem to be working very well since a student or two would walk through his arm and leg.

Freddy limped up to his friend, quirking an eyebrow, and as the brunet grabbed onto the back of the backpack wordlessly, the two of them made their way to the cafeteria. 

“Man, you really don’t like learning do you?” Freddy said with a smirk as Billy rolled his eyes.

“Well, I like learning, I just hate school. Why do I need to know why the industrial revolution is relevant to today when I could just learn how to get a job?” he responded. Freddy scoffed. 

“You’re dead Billy, you can’t get a job.”

“.......wow…...thanks.”

The teen shrugged.  The boys walked down the winding hallways, making their way to the lunchroom for a much-needed break, and Billy continued to rant about how pointless the public school education system in America was. 

“I mean, what even is the point of learning percentages in math or how to do quadratic formulas on a graph! They’re completely useless in real life, I mean, they don’t seem to help me at all whatsoever,” he exclaimed. 

“Well,” Freddy began, “Learning percentages actually kind of helps with taxes and credit and a bunch of other adult stuff like that, so I wouldn’t exactly say that it's  _ all _ useless."

Billy raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, fine, I'll let you have that. But still, my point stands." 

"Do you even remember going to school? Or is all of this just like some angsty teenager complaining about having to  _ go  _ to school."

Billy whipped his head around to face his friend, who continued to stare impassively at the hallway before them.

"Hey, I am  _ not  _ an angsty teenager." 

Freddy made a face. "Eeehhhh weeell, you have a mysterious backstory, no memories, and you woke up in an abandoned warehouse only to discover that you were dead and had become a ghost, and now you're lingering among the living, even though nobody else but me can see you, in an attempt to figure out what happened to you as well as whatever other things you plan on doing up here. Now, if that isn't the perfect summary for a broody, anime character in a fantasy adventure, then I sure as hell don't know what is." 

Billy stared at his friend. "Wow," he said. "You really spend a lot of time watching TV." 

Freddy shrugged. "Eh, I went through a phase. I watched some animes and you start to pick up the stereotypes after a few shows."

"And I'm the angsty, broody character?" The brunet said pointing to himself. Freddy nodded. 

"Yup! And I'm either the smart sidekick or the unsuspecting main character who gets thrust into a life or world-threatening situation." 

Billy scoffed. "I'm gonna go with sidekick." 

Freddy hummed. "We'll see." 

 

* * *

The school cafeteria was sketchy. And the provided lunch was even more so. 

Billy picked at the soggy and crunchy french fries that Freddy had given him as Freddy pulled out the notebook from earlier. The one with all of the questions that he wanted to figure out. He flipped to one of the pages and Billy got a glimpse of all the frantic scribbles that littered across the page. 

“Damn,” he muttered as he popped a french fry into his mouth. “That’s a lot.” 

“Well, I have a lot of questions.” Freddy mumbled as he looked down the list, muttering them to himself as he went down. 

To any ordinary person, it would’ve looked like Freddy was an outcast. For he was sitting by himself, alone, at a table, with his nose stuck in his notebook and his crutch lying haphazardly beside him on the floor. The table appeared to be empty, and the only sign that someone was even there was the chair next to him being slightly tilted towards the raven. Although it just looked like someone had left. 

But overall, it looked like Freddy Freeman was alone, with no one there to protect him if anything or anyone should come up to him in a threatening manner. And since the boy's foster siblings all had different lunches than him, it was very easy to do so. 

And Billy was very aware of this, for he noticed the sympathetic and judging stares of the kids around him. Glancing at Freddy as if he was weird or maybe even a freak, and Billy didn’t like it one bit. On some level deep inside him, he wished that he could do something to help. To stop the stares and whispered remarks, but alas he could do nothing. He couldn’t force people to look away or stop their rude whispers, because at the most they would only feel a breeze of light air, and that would only frustrate Billy even more. 

So the ghost remained silent, and just imagined that he could be seen. For that was all he was able to do for now. Maybe one day he would be able to help more, but right now, pretending was the extent of his abilities. 

“Alright,” Freddy said, drawing Billy’s attention. “Here’s the plan. 6th period is my study hall, and that’s only another period away after lunch. So once it’s passing time we get out of here, okay? The only problem is the hall monitor, although I’m sure that we can sneak past him once the hallways are crowded enough. But then that only gives us enough time for sixth and seventh period before we need to be back here for pickup. So we’ll only have like two hours to test your abilities.” 

“Wait,” Billy said, his mouth stuffed with french fries and chocolate milk and a look of confusion on his face. He looked like a chipmunk. “We’re testing my powers?” 

Freddy looked at him incredulously, “Uhhh duh! What do you think I’ve been planning for the past five minutes.” 

Billy shrugged. “I don’t know, but I wasn’t expecting to test them right now. Why not after school?” 

The raven sighed. “After school Victor and Rosa come to pick us up, and then we have house chores to do, and then homework or TV or whatever, and then it’s dinner and bedtime. We don’t exactly have time to test your abilities without our absences being noticed. It’s better and safer if we do it during school.” 

Billy munched and swallowed the last of his side of lunch. “Hmm, okay, that makes sense. But won’t the school call your parents when they see your absence?” 

Freddy waved his hand. “Nah, I’ll just say that my leg was acting up and I had to go to the nurse.” 

Billy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, impressed that his friend was willing to use his disabled leg as an excuse. “Huh, wow. Okay, so that’s figured out. Now what?” 

Freddy shrugged and leaned back in his chair, releasing a puff of air. “Now we wait I guess. Shouldn’t be too hard.” 

Billy scoffed. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who has to sit still and do nothing.” 

Freddy’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I’m sorry, but what were all those pranks you were doing back there? Because I’m sure that that wasn’t nothing. And why the hell would you take the coffee mugs? Why not just write something funny on the board?” 

Billy reached to take another fry, but Freddy slid the tray away before he could reach them. The brunet’s shoulders dropped in defeat. 

“Because writing things on the board isn’t as fun as confusing dumb teachers.” 

Freddy scoffed and then began to eat his side of lunch. “Pfft, whatever. Also, did you really have to drink all the chocolate milk?” 

The ghost gave an innocent look and shrugged.

 

* * *

Billy and Freddy walked through the hallway, heading towards Freddy’s fifth-period class when something unexpected happened. 

The hallway was basically empty, thanks to the boys purposefully being late and loitering in the cafeteria, and the two were just minding their own business, talking about what they were going to do when they got out of school, and which powers they were going to test and how. When Freddy was shoved harshly onto the ground. 

The raven fell to the linoleum floor, passing straight through Billy as he did so, and the brunet felt his heart jump as Freddy fell. He gasped in surprise patting down his chest, to see if he was still there and tangible. Even if it was only to him. The boy let out a small sigh of relief when he felt his chest and slowly-beating heart and whirled around to see who had done the crime. Where he came face to face with a snarky looking teen wearing a leather jacket and curly hair, with a stupid smirk on his face. 

Billy’s lips curled into a scowl. 

And right next to Leather Jacket was another teen, one that looked similar to him but not quite. He still had curly hair, but instead of brown it was a dark auburn and he was wearing a red letterman jacket in place of leather, but the same lopsided smirk resided on his face as well.  It was obvious that the two were brothers and that they had been the ones to push down Freddy, which is why Billy struggled to maintain his cool as he marched up to them. 

“What the hell!?” he yelled at the brothers. “The fuck is wrong with you guys!?” 

But they continued to smirk and laugh mockingly at the fallen raven, not even glancing in Billy’s direction. The brunet was about to shout at them again, ready to give them a piece of his mind and maybe an invisible punch to the face, when he was interrupted by Leather Jacket. 

“Awww, look Burke, seems like the crippled freak can’t get up. What a shame. Where’s your family when you need them, Freeman?” 

Freddy groaned as he sat up, having landed uncomfortably on his bad leg, and he sent a narrowed glare at Leather Jacket. 

“Back off, Brett. Can’t you fucking morons go one day without wailing on me?” 

Leather Jacket, now dubbed Brett, glared at Freddy in a chilling way, and Billy felt his heart drop slightly. He knew that look. Somehow he knew exactly what was coming. The ghost tried to leap in front of Freddy defensively, trying to find some way to protect him from the oncoming storm, but just when he stepped in front of his fallen friend, Brett lunged forward and kicked Freddy in the stomach. 

Passing through Billy easily. 

Billy’s eyes widened as he spun around, his jaw dropped as he saw Freddy get kicked in the gut by a student way bigger and meaner than him, and grunting in pain as the beating went on. Freddy tried to reach for his fallen crutch, his arm reaching out for the device, but it was slid away by the other kid, Letterman. 

"-illy." the raven choked out before Burke joined in and kicked Freddy's good leg.

Billy felt something rise up inside of him and he felt himself go cold. His eyes hardened and unbeknownst to him, they grew brighter, the soft, moss green turning into a toxic neon as his anger grew. The sounds of Freddy’s pained grunts filled his ears, and the mocking voices of the bullies echoed throughout the empty hall. 

Billy’s eyes zoned in on Freddy’s crutch lying halfway down the corridor, and without truly thinking about what he was doing, and what the consequences may bring, he marched over to the stick and picked it up. Cool plastic touching his fingers, which Billy noticed were slightly grey and white. 

But he ignored it. That wasn’t important right now. 

Frost grew across the crutch, branching out from where his fingers were, and Billy rushed over to the bullies, not even giving them a chance to protect themselves from the invisible specter as he smacked Brett across his face with the cane. He hit Brett with all the strength he could muster, and the boy was met with a satisfying _cra_ _ ck _ . The older teen flew across the hallway and crashed against the lockers, a groan of pain escaping him as he fell to the ground and holding his face tenderly. And meanwhile his brother watched, eyes wide, as Brett struggled to get to his feet, his jaw already bruising yellow. 

But before Burke could do anything to help his hurting sibling, Billy swung the crutch again, hitting him on the shin and making him cry out in pain. He fell down to the ground instantly, with a yelp escaping his lips. Billy kicked him in the chest for good measure and watched him fall onto the linoleum. 

By this time, Brett had finally gotten up to his feet, his eyes darting around everywhere in a struggle to see where the attacks were coming from and who was hitting him. But all he could see was Freddy, lying against the lockers on the opposite end of the room, cradling his stomach in pain, and staring at seemingly nothing with wide eyes. 

The bully growled in frustration and began to thunder over to Freddy, his fists clenched in anger and his dark eyes hardened and burning with rage. 

Billy saw the bully come forward and his brow scrunched together in determination.  _ Oh no, you don’t.  _ The ghost thought to himself. 

He stood in front of Freddy protectively, crutch held in both hands and glittering frost growing across the plastic. 

But then in a millisecond, Billy realized something. Brett couldn’t see him. He would just walk right through him without batting an eye and continue on hurting Freddy. And Billy couldn’t keep smacking him with the crutch, as much as he wanted to, for he would keep coming towards the raven and wail on him even harder than before. 

Billy had to get Freddy out of there; there was no other way around it. He had to get his friend away from the bullies, but how exactly was he going to do that? He couldn’t exactly drag him across the room. They wouldn’t make it that far. The brunet glanced at Freddy, seeing him sitting up against the lockers, and then an idea came to him. 

The ghost cringed. This probably wasn't going to end well, but what other options did they have? 

Brett walked up to Billy, and the brunet swung the crutch again, hitting the older boy in the stomach and causing him to double-over. 

_ Now’s my chance! _ Billy thought. 

He rushed over to Freddy, frosty crutch still in hand, and he knelt down beside his friend, grabbing onto his jacket. The ghost closed his eyes, focussing as hard as he could, and imagined that this idea was going to work perfectly. It had to work. 

Billy felt a tingle flare up in his hands and he took that as his cue; and with a strong lunge, he launched himself into the lockers, passing harmlessly through them, while pulling Freddy along with him. 

Brett looked up from his doubling over, black eyes still angry, but the anger vanished into confusion when he saw the empty hallway before him. The boy straightened himself out and his head turned from one side to the other, trying to find any notion that told him where his punching bag was. 

“Freeman?” he said hesitantly. 

 

Meanwhile, the two boys collapsed on the opposite side of the wall, landing just on the outside of the school building in the icy grass and cold air. 

Billy panted heavily at the sudden adrenaline rush that came with fighting bullies and walking through walls, and he fell down beside his friend with his eyes blown wide open with shock. He couldn’t believe that that had actually worked!

“Freddy?” he said, voice slightly higher than usual. “you okay?”

He glanced over at Freddy to see his reaction and if he was alright, and was met with the sight of the raven staring into space, his eyes just as wide as Billy’s. His mouth hung open in shock and he didn’t move as he sat there in the cold.  

“Freddy?” Billy asked again. He began to wonder if he had somehow scrambled up Freddy’s brains accidentally when they passed through the building, and he began to freak out. 

Oh God, what was he thinking! He didn’t know if that was a good idea or not and who knows how a living human would react to going intangible! That was so stupid! And now Freddy was probably a fucking vegetable thanks to him! Oh, God how was he ever going to explain this. Well, actually he can’t explain it, because nobody would ever see him again! So there goes the only friend he’s ever had!

But before he could panic any further, the brunet was pulled out of his anxious worries when Freddy turned to look at him. 

“That. Was. AWESOME!” he exclaimed. Billy jumped at the sudden reaction and the icy crutch he was holding fell from his hand. 

“The way you just beat their asses was amazing, oh my God, and a little terrifying too! Did you know that your eyes can glow? No, you probably wouldn’t because you couldn’t see them, but it was still awesome! They didn’t even see you coming and oh my gosh that was just too cool! You have no idea how happy I am! And you were able to beat them up without slipping through things! Great job buddy! But wait a second,” Freddy said as he glanced around them before his eyes fell on the crutch “Oh good, you got my crutch too!” Freddy said, immediately reaching over to grab it. But he drew back his hand with a hiss when he felt how cold it was. “Damn, that’s cold...And it’s GOT FROST ON IT TOO! DUDE! We  _ gotta  _ make a list of all the powers you have! This just gave me so many more ideas!” 

“Uhmmm,” Billy intelligently said. 

Freddy distractedly turned around, looking over the area they were in. It seemed like they fell on the far side of the building, closest to the streets and just below a couple of classroom windows. It didn’t seem like anyone had noticed them falling through the wall, thankfully, because that would’ve been a mess to explain. The disabled teen, ignoring the cold, went ahead and snatched his crutch, slipping it back into place and getting up off of the icy ground. He dusted himself off and tightened the straps of his backpack before looking back down at his friend. 

“Okay!” he exclaimed authoritatively. Billy still staring at Freddy strangely, a little taken aback by the sudden exuberance radiating from the boy, and he jumped again when Freddy had spoken. “Let’s get going. Screw fifth period, let’s go test your abilities now. Plus, I got a whole bunch of other ideas I wanna try out since apparently, you have a low-level cryokinesis power, so come on let’s get going!” 

Freddy turned around and began walking away, leaving Billy stuttering over his words as he too got up off of the frosty ground. 

“W-wait right now?” he asked. He caught up to the raven and gripped onto the backpack reflexively. 

“Well yeah! I mean unless you wanna go back inside and go to biology clas-” 

Billy shook his head vigorously. “Oop! Nevermind! Forget I said anything. Your idea sounds good, I fully support it.” 

Freddy snorted and continued to limp down the sidewalk, the ghost silently following along.

“And hey Billy?” Freddy said nonchalantly. Billy hummed in response. “You don't need to grab onto my bag right now.” 

“Oh yeah, right.”    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp!! I hope you guys enjoyed that! Although i always have trouble writing school scenes, because what the hell do you write about school!? But anyways, i hope i did okay and that Billy beating the Bryer's asses was awesome! I had so much fun writing that!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated and see you guys next time!
> 
> Next Chapter: Power Testing


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys test some powers, and somebody sees something they shouldn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM STILL ALIVE!   
> I'm so sorry guys for the month long wait, I really am. I've been really busy what with changing schools and trying to find a job and my other responsibilities and Ive been having a little bit of writers block, which is why im being slow with my updates.   
> I think it's safe to say that my updates will be farther apart, because of my school work and stuf, but i promise that i wont abandon this fic! I love it too much and i want to see it through!!   
> With that said, i hope you guys enjoy and it's good to be back!

“So, let me get this straight,” Billy said as he stood in front of an empty playground in the middle of the park, listless snow surrounding him as it fell down onto the ground in puffs of white. The two boys stood next to each other, their coats wrapped tightly around them and the cold turning their cheeks red. Freddy had his notebook out and an eager smile on his face while his friend was feeling much different about their anticipated experiments than he had earlier. After the whole Bryer debacle, they just took off from school, and eventually made their way to a park. Which seemed like a better place than any to start their ghost power testing. Billy’s gaze shifted from Freddy to the playground in front of them, unease clearly evident in the moss green. “You want me to just run at full speed and pass through that metal-cagey thing?”

Freddy hummed. “Yep, absolutely. Don’t hold back bud.” 

“You don’t actually think that this is a good idea do you?” 

The curly-haired boy looked up from his notes, “Hmm, well, let’s see. So far we know that you can easily pass through things without any harm coming to you, but you’re having trouble controlling it. So what we need to figure out is how to effectively use it without you losing control over it and becoming solid and tangible in the worst possible moment. Because we really don’t need you getting stuck in a wall or something like that. And we also need to see which emotions or concepts work best with you and your new physiology. I’m theorizing that if your adrenaline is running high and pumping, then it might be easier for you to pass through things, or they could be more accessible. Hence, the running.” 

“You just want me to run into something on purpose, don’t you?” Billy dead-panned. 

Freddy nodded vigorously. “Very much so, yes.” 

Billy scoffed at his ridiculous friend and turned back to the playground. This was such a stupid idea. But in all fairness, Freddy did have some kind of point with all of these power-testing experiments. Because how else were they going to go about and learn how to use these new powers and abilities? And from what Billy had seen, Freddy had written down an entire list that filled up a page with questions, hypotheses, ideas, and experiments to work on. And the first thing on the list? Try to figure out how to use the passing-through ability, or intangibility as Freddy formally called it.

"Alright! You ready?" The dark haired boy asked. 

Billy nodded his head, rolled his shoulders, adjusted his beanie, and tried jumping lightly to get his muscles lose before he started the experiment. 

"As ready as I always am when it comes to running into a geometric metal dome." Billy said dryly. The boy mentally prepared himself for the aches and pains that come from running into something, and crouched down into a ready position. Because in all honesty, Billy doubted that this would work. But of course, he wouldn’t say this out loud since he didn't want Freddy to feel bad about it. His friend was trying to help him out, which is honestly more than Billy could say about his friends in his past life. If he ever had any.

The brunet took a steadying breath and let the refreshing, icy air chill him from the inside. With his cheeks rosy pink from the winter wind and his fingers starting to feel tingly, the boy thought one last  _ "what the hell" _ and took off. 

His legs pumped against the frosted wood chips and the snowflakes fell into his eyes. He ran straight for the metal structure a couple yards in front of him, and he did his best to recapture the feeling of intangibility. He thought back to clinging onto the van last night, to gripping the stick as he hit the Bryer's with it, to the door from last night that he got caught in. He was only steps away from the playground structure…

Only to hit it right on and immediately collapse to the ground with a groan. 

The brunet could hear Freddy both cuss profusely and laugh hysterically at the same time as he rushed over, his cane clicking against the hard ground. Billy rubbed his side and groaned as he felt a bruise start to form under his skin. 

"Dude!" Freddy exclaimed as he stood over Billy. "That was absolutely amazing, God, I wish I got that on camera."

Billy opened his eyes and sent a light glare to Freddy. 

"I still can't believe you talked me into running into something at full speed."

"Hey, I didn't talk you into doing anything! I just, lightly nudged you in the right direction is all."

Billy looked up at his friend. "Uh huh."

"Okay, bud just get up, lets try it again. Intangibility Power Test Take 2! I should make a sign for these things." 

Billy grunted and sat up, wincing at the stiff feeling in his ribs and sighing when he realized that it would be the first of many. 

Freddy flipped open a clean page in his notebook, unconsciously sniffling from the cold. "So," he began. "what were you thinking or feeling during Trial A? Were you scared? Did you feel adrenaline? How about embarrassed? Spare no details."

Billy stood up, gripping his side gently and gave his friend a look. "I was thinking, _ 'huh this is hella dumb, but oh well, fuck it, I'm dead.' _ And then I hit the poles." 

"Wow…..so detailed." 

Billy shrugged and he and Freddy walked back over to their starting point. “Okay, Trial 2, let’s go. What can we do differently this time?” 

Billy shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe this time I don’t run head first into something? Also, wasn’t the first one Trial A? So shouldn’t this be Trial B?” 

Freddy scoffed. “Nah, I like mixing it up. It’s fun. Okay but tell me, what should we do differently this time? What were you thinking or feeling about during the first time?” 

“Uhmm,” Billy began, trying to think about what was happening during the first trial. “I was thinking about the van? From last night when I couldn’t jump on.” 

Freddy nodded, “Okay, what else?”

“I thought about being stuck through the door? And fighting the Bryer’s too. Just basically every time I turned intangible.” 

The raven was quiet and his eyes shifted around in a telltale sign that he was thinking. “Okay, so that was what you were thinking, but what about your feelings? Your emotions? What were they?” 

Billy shrugged. “I don’t know, I was anxious I guess? Not really sure, I wasn’t exactly paying attention to my emotions or anything like that.” 

“Hmmm, I may have an idea, but first let’s try running again.” 

“Again?” The ghost complained. “I am not ramming into that thing again!” He said as he pointed accusingly at the play structure. Freddy lifted his arm in surrender and his mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish as he tried to explain. 

“Hey! A good scientist conducts their experiment multiple times in order to see if the results are the same and can confidently draw conclusions to their hypothesis!”  

“Yeah sure okay.”

“And I want to make sure that my hypothesis is correct!” there was a pause as silence hung between them. “And it’s also fun to see you run into stuff.”

“Freddy!” 

“Oh shut up and just run into the damn thing already!” 

“Fine! But if I get hurt I’m sending you the hospital bill!” 

“Oh please,” 

Billy walked over to his starting point and eyed the metal structure an annoyed look. He gave Freddy a look, who just shooed him in response, and turned back to the playground. He really hated this idea, he really did, he hated it. The brunet took off running and this time, instead of the first time, he tried to think about how he was feeling during the times he turned intangible. He had felt scared when he struggled to get on the van, he had felt fear for Freddy when the Bryers were beating him up, and he was shocked when he saw himself stuck halfway through the front door. 

So then that meant that fear was the key to his intangibility. He had to be scared in order to slip through things. Which made sense right? 

So in the moments before he reached the metal dome thing, he let himself be scared. He didn’t want to hit the thing and he was scared to get hurt again. Billy came up to the dome and for a split second, between his fear, he felt hopeful that he would slip through. 

But that hope was shattered when the boy ran right into the metal dome again, harder than the first time. 

Billy collapsed onto the cold ground and groaned loudly in pain. “Oooowwww,” he whined. “Shit.”

“Oh damn,” he heard Freddy vaguely say. “You good bro?” he asked from where he was standing. Billy cracked open his eyes and glared at the raven from where he was on the ground, his teeth gritted and arms wrapped around his bruising ribs. 

“I just ran into a fucking metal dome for the second time in less than ten minutes! What the hell do you think, Freddy!”  

“Oop, sorry, generic question.” 

The brunet grunted as he got up off of the ground, pausing on his knees as he tried to ignore the ache in his ribs, and once he got to his feet he sent a glare at Freddy. “Did that help you with your damn hypothesis?” 

The disabled boy seemed to miss the heat in his words, or he just ignored, and sent a beaming grin to his friend with a thumbs up.“Yeah it did! Thanks, Billy!” 

Billy cussed under his breath as he walked back over to Freddy, or more like limped, and he peered over his shoulder to read what the other boy was writing in that damn notebook of his. 

“ _ Subject appears to not be able to pass through objects while under intense stress, anxiety, or adrenaline.”  _ He read aloud, his brow furrowing and lips curling into a scowl as he did so. “Really? That’s what we were testing? And how did you even get there from the two trials?” 

“Hey, I didn’t get to that conclusion just from these two experiements. I made an educated guess based on the previous incidents. Because think about it! The first time you slipped through, like the actual first time was when we met. We went to shake hands and you just slipped through,”

“Yeah Freddy, I remember that pretty clearly,”

“And then the second time was at the van when we were leaving and you tried jumping on. You didn’t actually get on the van until the very last minute.”

“Yeah I remember that too,”

“And then the third time you slipped through something was at my house when you were sitting in the chair and just fell out,”

“What exactly are you getting at here Freddy?” Billy said, getting tired with Freddy beating around the bush and not telling him directly what he figured out. 

“I want you to think about it! What were you feeling when you slipped through things?” 

“I was feeling scared!” Billy exclaimed.  

“No, you were feeling scared and then you were  _ tangible _ , because that’s what causes you to be solid. Fear!”

Billy looked at Freddy strangely. He was just done with Freddy’s dramatic B.S. “How?” he asked simply.  

“Well, with the Bryer’s you didn’t slip up _ once, _ and the only time you did was to get me through the wall and out of the school! And then with the van, you were only able to stay on the whole time without falling off because I can only imagine you were scared shitless! And think about when you could pass through things, what’s the one emotion that comes to mind when you purposefully go intangible?” 

“Uhhmm,” Billy mumbled as he tried to think back through the last two days. Wait had it really only been two days? Damn, it felt much longer than that. But when Billy thought back to meeting Freddy for the first time in that abandoned warehouse, in the winter cold and suffocating dark, he thought back to when Freddy had said that he would help him. And the brunet clearly remembered feeling relieved. Relieved that someone was willing to help him, when he had no idea what was going on or where he was and that someone was there to help him through it. 

And then with the van Billy remembered feeling hopeful and confused, not scared. He was only really scared when he realized that he couldn’t get on, but earlier on, he was more confused if anything else. And then with the chair in Freddy’s room, he was feeling comfortable and at ease when he slipped through, he didn’t feel scared at all. 

The lightbulb went off in Billy’s head. 

“You think that my intangibility only happens when I’m relaxed or comfortable?” 

Freddy nodded confidently. “Yep! But we have to test it first. That’s the whole thing behind these experiments! And plus it makes sense, because the opposite of fear and anxiety is being relaxed and/or focused! So let’s it try it out. Intangibility Power Test Trial C!”

Billy shook his head in reluctance. “Uh uh, no way! I’m not running into anymore geometric metal dome thingies!” 

“No, no we’re not doing anymore running. Remember? Adrenaline is one of the things that keeps you tangible.”

“Oh, right,”

“Yeah, I just want you to try to slip your hand through something.” 

“Well okay, that seems doable.” 

“Great! Now try punching that cinder block over there!” 

“What!?” 

 

* * *

By the time they had finished their beginning training session, the boys were almost late for school dismissal. Freddy had realized the time too late, thanks to his watch with a cartoon ghost on it, and in a frantic hurry the boys rushed to get to school before the other foster kids realized that Freddy had ditched. Billy had no problem running, even with his aching ribs, but it was Freddy that he was worried about. The boy had been on his bad leg for a good chunk of the day and the ground was icy with persistent frost, it would be all too easy for him to slip up and fall, injuring himself even further. And considering the fact that he had been beaten up earlier today, Billy was a little concerned that he was going to get hurt more than he already was. 

But he didn’t say any of that. 

But before they found out how late they were, it was fun being able to figure out how to use his new abilities. They only had the time to test the intangibility part of his powers, but just that alone had helped to reduce the weight on his shoulders. 

Now he had one less question to ask... but he still had a butt-ton more. 

Maybe tomorrow they could test some more, because Billy really wanted to know what he could do and what he couldn’t do, he wanted to know why he had trouble turning invisible, why only Freddy could see him, if anyone would ever see him again, and he wanted to know what else he could possibly do. And then maybe, once they work all of that out, they could begin to figure out how he had died. 

But that was farther down the road, and right now Billy had to focus on what was going to happen in the immediate future. 

The school’s roof came into view and Billy turned around to face Freddy, who was stumbling over his crutch as they hurried to reach the building on time. 

“What’s the time?” he asked, panting heavily. Freddy checked his watch and cringed.

“2:20! School ends in five minutes!” 

“Dammit, we can still make it! Come on Freddy!” Billy exclaimed. The two friends reached a crosswalk, one that was busy with cars and Freddy groaned as he saw the multiple cars race across either side of the street. 

“Shit! We’re not gonna make it in time. By the time we get there everyone’s gonna already be at the meet up.”

“Well what if...what if we just walk through the cars? I could turn you intangible and we could just pass right through!”

Freddy sent Billy an incredulous look. “Billy you fucking dumbass that wouldn’t work! People can still see me! So even if I was intangible, the cars would swerve out of the way and then we’d be in the middle of a bunch of accidents which would make us even more late and then I would have to explain myself to both my parents and the police as to why I was walking through the middle of the street and I sure as hell can’t just say that a ghost was there making sure I was safe because who the hell believes the disabled kid with a conspiracy obsession? No, just accept it. We’re gonna be late.”  

Billy sighed and let his shoulders drop. He interlocked his fingers and hung his arms from his head, breathing in deeply to try and calm down his racing heart as they waited for the crosswalk sign to turn white. Which rose another question: why did Billy still breathe? 

Maybe it was an involuntary reaction? A reflex from when he was alive that just passed over when he had died? At least that’s what Freddy had guessed when the concept came up. But they both agreed that they would ask the questions involving Billy’s physiology once they finished figuring out his powers. They had enough on their plate as it was, they didn’t need anymore questions at the moment. 

The cars finally slowed down to a stop and the light turned white, and almost immediately the two boys took off, running as fast as they could to get to the school on time. But once they finished crossing the street, Freddy slipped on a patch of ice and fell down, landing on his bad leg. The raven yelped and hissed through his teeth while Billy whirled around, seeing his friend on the icy cement and holding his knee gingerly. His eyes widened. 

“Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me!” the teen yelled. “I don’t have time for this!” 

Billy rushed over and placed his hand on Freddy’s shoulder, his eyes trailing over the injured leg. “Hey, dude you okay?”

“No I’m not fucking okay! As if I needed to hurt myself even more, this shit happens! And we’re gonna be late and I never ditch school so Rosa and Victor are gonna ask what happened and fuck man this can’t be happening!” 

“Hey Freddy it’s gonna be fine. We’re gonna make it on time okay? Don’t worry about it. So what if we’re a little late, you can still walk right?”

Freddy shook his head. “No, Billy I can’t. Even on a good day my leg never hurts this bad!” 

“Okay, well then, drastic times call for drastic measures.”

The raven sent his friend a strange, wary look. “What is that supposed to mea-OH MY GOSH WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” 

Billy bent down, and with a grunt, picked Freddy up off of the cold ground, and much to his surprise the younger boy was a lot lighter than he thought he would be. 

“Well you can’t walk!” 

“That doesn’t mean I need to be picked up!”

“Eh, too late pal.” 

“Do I even weigh anything to you?”

Billy shook his head. “Nope, it’s like holding a bunch of grapes.”

“Fuck you man.” 

 

* * *

The two boys walked up to the front of the school, to see Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro waiting to them, or actually Freddy, and Mary had a look of fierce frustration set on her face. The look making Freddy gulp nervously. He never liked seeing his older sister angry. 

“Freddy! Where have you been! I’ve been worried sick about you! Did you skip class and ditch school today!?” Mary exclaimed as she saw Freddy hurriedly limp over to the foster’s kids meeting spot, panting heavily from the running. Freddy was looking at the ground sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck ashamedly as he walked up to the group, and Billy watched from the sidelines biting his lip anxiously. They hadn’t come up with a cover story for Freddy and now in the moment when they needed one, he didn’t have anything to say. 

This was going to be a disaster. 

“Y-yeah I did. But please don’t tell Rosa and Victor, I have a really good reason!”   

The elder girl crossed her arms and gave a look at Freddy that said  _ ‘oh really?’  _ The disabled boy licked his lips and fidgeted with the hem of his jacket. 

“T-the Bryer’s ran me ou-out of the school. I was too scared to, uhm, come back.” There was a small gasp, both from Darla and Billy, who was not expecting Freddy to say that. Not out of shock, but more out of unexpected impress.

“Daaammmnnn, Freddy” Billy said. “You really pulling that card huh?” 

Freddy’s eyes shifted to look at Billy for a second before they turned back to Mary who’s glare had dropped and was replaced by a look of understanding and sympathy. Darla rushed forward and rammed into Freddy, giving him a lung-crushing hug and holding him tightly. Freddy took a small step back at the sudden attack, but nevertheless he smirked lightly and half-heartedly wrapped an arm around Darla.“So, sorry for being late. Will you guys please not tell Rosa and Victor? I don’t want them storming the school gates and demanding vengeance, you know? I just wanna head home.” 

Mary’s arms dropped to her side and she nodded,“Sure, Freddy.” she said and the raven let out a sigh of relief, his shoulders dropping and a small smile appearing on his face. “Great, thanks.”  

A familiar honking filled the air, and all of the foster kids turned to look at the van that they knew to be Victor’s. Then unanimously all of them started gathering their things and walked to the edge of the sidewalk where the van had pulled up. Freddy glanced at Billy, who shrugged, and then went over to the car, adjusting the backpack on his shoulders and plastering a fake smile on his face as Victor rolled down the window. 

“Hey kids!” he exclaimed exuberantly from the car. “How was school?” Freddy shrugged and the other foster kids started climbing into the car.  

“Eh, it was okay as always.” 

Billy scoffed. “Yeah minus the fact that you got beaten up, went through a wall, ditched school, made me get a concussion, and fell, it was great!” the brunet said sarcastically. 

“Will you shut up?” the curly-haired teen hissed under his breath, and Eugene, who had come up right next to Freddy, looked up from his video game with a very confused look on his face. “What?” he asked, puzzled. 

Freddy blanched. “Uhmm, uh, n-nothing. I wasn’t, uhm, talking to, uh, you.”

“Well then who were you talking to?” Eugene pressed. 

“Uuuuhhhhhhhhhh,” 

“Oh my god, I swear you’re so bad at this.” Billy said. 

“Myself?” Freddy finally said. Eugene still looked at him funny, but he let it go as he shook his head and hopped into the car. “Whatever.” he said. It was Darla’s turn next to go into the car, but for some reason she wasn’t going in. Instead she was staring at the space next to Freddy, her face pondering as if she just realized something. And then she looked at everyone else, clearly confused over something. Freddy glanced at his sister curiously and nudged her arm. 

“Hey?” he asked. “Aren’t you going to go in?" 

"Uhm, y-yeah." She glanced at the space next to her brother again, the same spot where Billy was standing, and then climbed into the van, taking her seat in the back of the car. The two boys subtlety shared a confused look before both climbing into the car and going to the back to sit next to Darla. Billy sitting on the floor of the van and Freddy sitting down with his crutch next to him. 

The vehicle came to life, its engine humming beneath Billy, and with a jolt, they started driving. The car was relatively quiet, with a little bit of chatting here and there from Pedro, Eugene, Mary, and Victor, but surprisingly Darla stayed quiet.  

Freddy noticed his little sister's strange behavior and leaned closer to her. Billy turned around to see the two of them and he noticed how Darla was staring at the spot he was sitting in. There was something different about it this time though, there was no confusion or bewilderment.

"Darla? You okay?" He whispered. The girl turned to look at him.  

"Yeah, I-I’m fine." She said in a hushed tone. But Billy knew better. She wasn’t fine. Because if there was one thing Billy knew how to do, it was to spot a lie, and Darla just lied to Freddy. 

“Okay,” the older boy said after a pause. “If you say so.” 

The rest of the drive home was more or less the same, but Darla still stared at the space Billy was sitting in suspiciously. It was starting to creep Billy out, and he was a ghost! 

They pulled up into the driveway and Freddy then pulled the same stunt he did earlier that morning and freaking shoved Billy out of the car before they completely stopped. 

The brunet stumbled out of the car and onto the pavement, with a triumphant smile on his face. He didn’t fall on his face this time! He stood up straight just when the car door opened, and strangely the first person out of the van was Darla. And she looked…  _ relieved _ ? 

Billy’s brow furrowed in confusion at the strange reaction, but was quickly pulled out of his thoughts as he saw the rest of the kids jump out of the van. He saw Freddy get out with a little bit of trouble with his crutch and felt a pang of guilt course through his heart. 

The group of kids herded over to the front door and Billy followed them like a silent shadow through the front door and entered the house, with no one the wiser that a ghost had walked in with them. And then almost immediately everyone went their separate ways. Mary and Eugene went upstairs, Pedro went to the garage, Darla went to the kitchen, while Freddy stayed next to Billy.    

“Rosa! We’re home!” Victor shouted. 

“Welcome back!” the foster mother responded, her tone light but firm, and something told Billy that something was about to happen. Freddy was about to open his mouth to talk to Billy, when he was interrupted by another shout. “Freddy! Could you come here for a second?” Rosa called from the direction of the kitchen. The curly-haired boy groaned and rolled his eyes. He had an idea about why she was calling for him. 

“Yeah, just one sec!” he turned to Billy, “It’s probably about the fact that I wasn’t in class for half the day. Be right back.” and with that said, he hobbled away from Billy and made his way into the kitchen. 

Billy mindlessly walked away from the front door and shuffled into the living room. He stood in the middle of the living room awkwardly, not really knowing what to do with himself. 

Should he sit down? Read a book? No, that wouldn’t be a good idea. He didn’t want anyone walking in on a floating book, that would be a disaster. So he just stood in the room, looking around and getting more familiar with the place that he’d be ‘haunting’. He sat down in one of the plush chairs and let himself relax, although not too much so that he slipped through the chair. No way he wanted that to happen again. He gazed up at the fireplace mantle and saw some pictures of all the foster kids when they were smaller. There was one of Darla when she was a toddler, wearing a daisy dress and laughing happily as she walked. There was one picture that was clearly Freddy as he held up an indiscernible painting of some weird creature. Might have been a dog. Or a werewolf. But it was definitely Freddy. The dark, wild hair and the double crutches in the photo gave it away. There was also a picture of Mary with an award, a wide smile on her face, and there was one of Pedro with Rosa and Victor as they ate ice cream. It was obvious this was a happy family, and for some reason Billy couldn't help but feel bittersweet about them. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the feeling, and instead focused on the books and movies sitting on a bookshelf in the corner.   


...

What the hell was _Andi Mack_? 

The ghost boy’s attention was pulled away when he saw someone enter the room, and to his pleasant surprise, it was Darla. She froze the second she saw him, and Billy felt a shiver run down his spine. There wasn’t a hollow spaced out look in her eyes that most people seemed to have when staring into nothing, and instead it felt like she was looking at him. But that wasn’t possible. Only Freddy could see him. Right? 

The girl walked further into the room until she was standing right in front of Billy. He tried to stay as still as possible.

There’s no way she could see him. 

She looked him up and down and curiously looked at his clothes and face. He felt a rock lodge itself in his throat.

There’s no way she could see him. 

Her eyes glittered as she looked at him, and he stared back, unsure of what to do.

_ There’s no way she could see him.  _

She opened her mouth to speak and he froze up.

 

“Hello, who are you?”

  
  


_ SHIT _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoo! I hope you guys enjoyed this fic! Its a little longer than the other ones, which i hope makes up for my small hiatus, and i hope to update a little sooner next time!   
> Comments and kudos are appreciated and I love you guys!
> 
> Next Chapter: Explanations and More Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Whelp! Im gonna leave it there. If you guys want more, tell me and i'll write the next chapter!  
> Also im basing the ghost physiology and rules off of both Supernatural and Danny Phantom, so in case anyone got the references like the salt, iron, and EMF, then that's why. 
> 
> Until next time! Love you guys!


End file.
